


Clotho Spins in Sorrow

by jynx



Series: Polaris [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Greek Mythology as Sith Gods, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, It was too an opportunity to pass up, M/M, Obi-Wan was Never a Jedi, Parent-Child Relationship, Referenced Genocide, Safe Sane and Consensual, Sith Obi-Wan, Sith Sorcery, Slow Burn, clone culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-28 20:13:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13911315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jynx/pseuds/jynx
Summary: Six months later, the 212th joins up with the 501st.Update 11/16/18:This series is being rewritten cuz, uh. Author wrote herself into a corner? Whoops. 8D It's in the queue.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tags WILL change/be updated. This is going to updated uhm, here? I think. I honestly did not expect to spew as many words as I did in one day? (thank my friend, she is far more evil than I am. She said post it. XD)

Rex was exhausted. They had just come back from a confrontation with the Seppies that had left huge gaps in the 501st and they were, to a brother, beat down. It didn't matter that they had won the engagement. The 212th had joined them and the tide had turned and the enemy had retreated, but Rex didn't care. 

He had checked in with every sergeant in his company, seeing how they and their men were doing, paying special attention to the Shinies who were seeing their first actual combat. Kix was furious, but Rex had directed Jesse toward the medic with a bottle of alcohol he'd confiscated last cycle and let them figure themselves out. 

He palmed the door to his bunk open and stumbled inside, pulling his helmet off and setting it aside. He closed the door and started pulling off his armor, just wanting to crawl into bed and pull the covers over his head. 

Except that when he went to do so, he found his bed occupied. 

It took him a moment to process that yes, he was in the right room and that yes, that was his bed. It just had someone else in it. Rex frowned and poked the person, who also had his pillow pulled over their head so he couldn't see who it was. 

"Go find your own bunk," he said. 

The person moved, tugging the pillow down, and Rex rocked back on his heels in shock. "These things suck," Red muttered. "How the hell do you people sleep? Rocks are more comfortable." 

"Red?" 

The redhead gave a sleepy smile and reached out, tugging on Rex's hand. "There's room, c'mon." 

Rex let himself be pulled into the bed, not sure he wasn't dreaming, as the other curled up around him. Both the bed and Red were warm from sleep and Rex wrapped his arms around him, wanting that warmth for himself. Red hummed, nosing against Rex's jaw, and let himself be manhandled. There was something painfully intimate about how they were wrapped around each other in the single bunk, but Rex didn't care. 

"You're okay," he said, holding Red. 

"Haven't killed Qui-Gon yet," Red agreed, giving a tiny hum of contentment. "Cody is wonderful. Drags me into sparring matches when my temper gets the better of me." 

Rex couldn't help the way he clutched Red just the tiniest bit tighter. "No one told us what had happened after the _Maverick_ was destroyed." 

Red twitched, pulling away a little so he could look at Rex. "Wait, what?" 

"It's been a long six months," Rex said. 

Red slithered out of Rex's arms and somehow--Rex's brain was a fog at this point--ended up straddling his lap with Rex on his back. Red leaned down, their noses just brushing, eyes very green. 

"You didn't get any of my comms?" Red asked. Rex shook his head, hands hesitantly settling on Red's hips. "Cody thought it was odd that you weren't responding to him either." 

"Haven't heard from him either," Rex said. "Only knew the 212th was okay because of the GAR gossip network." 

"I just thought you were ignoring me," Red said, sitting up, hands on Rex's chest. He looked a little embarrassed. "It's why I snuck in here, but you took longer getting back than I expected and I was tired." 

"You are always welcome in my bed," Rex said without thinking. 

Red arched a brow and grinned wickedly at him. "Oh?" 

"I, I mean, if you, to rest, and" Rex stumbled over himself, starting to sit up, only to have Red push him down. 

"Rex," Red said slowly, leaning down again so their faces were close. "Is there something you want to tell me?" 

"No?" Rex whispered. 

"That sounded like a question," Red said, smiling. "Do you want to say something but are instead letting honor get in your way?" 

"Honor?" Rex asked, hands tightening on Red's hips. Their positions were not lost on him and dammit, Red was barely wearing clothes right now, just a pair of leggings he'd seen Jedi train in and a sleeveless shirt. Rex wanted to roll them over and examine him, peel him out of those clothes and-- 

Red shifted and made a tiny noise in the back of his throat that. No. That was interest. Rex knew that kind of noise. He stared at Red and there was a flush there, on those pale cheeks, and he was biting his lip and smiling. 

"You're, shit, what's the term Jinn uses. Projecting," Red said, voice unsteady. His hands moved over Rex's chest, almost stroking, and Rex tried not to arch into it. 

No. Bad thoughts. He was trying to do this right, and this wasn't right. This was him being tired and missing Red and-- 

Red's hands moved from his chest to his face, cupping his cheeks as he leaned in and kissed him. Rex froze for a moment before kissing him back, trying to find the best angle, best anything, because he didn't want this to end. It took a moment, both of them too eager, noses bumping and teeth catching, as they moved together. Red slid to the side and Rex rolled with him, pulling each other in, their legs twining together, bodies pressed close. 

Rex cupped the back of Red's head, cradling him, careful--so careful--as they kissed. There were tongues touching and mouths opening and soft moans. And nothing could be more perfect than they were in this one moment. 

= 

Qui-Gon was frustrated and it had everything to do with trying to find his former apprentice. 

Anakin was avoiding him. 

Ever since he had taken Red as his student Anakin had cut all communication with him. The 501st would report to the Council, but any private comms between the 212th, Qui-Gon, Red and Anakin's battalion would go unanswered. The Council was aware of the issue and found it unsettling, especially in light of Red's information of the Sith Lord's interest in Anakin, and had finally sent Qui-Gon to deal with the issue. 

He could not do so, however, if he could not find Anakin. 

Releasing his frustration into the Force, he tapped the training bond he and Red had recently established--much to the other's reluctance--since he was a much better tracker. However, all he got back was a burst of annoyance and a distinct "busy, go away" feeling. Qui-Gon tried not to laugh and smiled instead; it was about time Red had something to smile about. He was far too serious. 

For the moment, he supposed, he would leave his search of Anakin for another time. They were in hyperspace now. There were very few places his former apprentice could go that Qui-Gon could not find him. 

= 

Rex traced gentle fingers along a deep scar along Red's ribs, kissing his shoulder as he did so. "This one?" he asked. 

Red twisted against Rex's sheets, trying to look. "Maul," he said. "Not long after the Sith bought me at auction." 

Rex leaned up and kissed Red, wanting to erase the scar and the past, but knowing he couldn't. Red smiled into the kiss, a gentle hum of pleasure, and broke it off to nuzzle and press more kisses along Rex's jaw. 

"Maul had been with him for years," Red said. "He hated me and I didn't know what I had gotten myself into. Didn't take me long to figure it out, of course, when Maul attacked me and the Sith just watched. Those first few years it was a constant battle between the two of us--every meal, every scrap of information, anything we needed to survive we had to fight the other for while he watched." 

"What changed?" Rex asked, running fingers along Red's scarred torso. He knew the stories, now, for many of these marks. Not all, but many. One day he wanted to know them all. 

Red shrugged, "Maul could never kill me. Either I was just that good at staying alive or Maul couldn't actually do it, but then I couldn't kill him either. There was something almost comforting knowing that there was someone else trapped in that hell with you. So the Sith changed the rules and kept us both." 

Rex chased Red's face, grinning as the other teasingly avoided him, but finally managed to capture his lips. Red scraped his nails through Rex's hair and pressed closer as they kissed, savoring the feel of each other. Kissing was all Rex wanted at that moment as he gathered Red in his arms. Everything else could wait. 

They broke apart, breathing heavy, and Red had the briefest flash of annoyance on his face before he kissed the tip of Rex's nose. 

"What?" Rex asked. 

"Hunh?" 

Rex reached out to smooth a thumb over Red's forehead. "You looked upset." 

"Oh," Red said. He dragged his nails teasingly along Rex's chest, a smile that he was beginning to learn meant trouble gracing his face. "Qui-Gon wanted my attention and I told him to fuck off." 

"Do you need--?" 

"No," Red said, avoiding his eyes. "I don't need anything. I want you." 

"Red?" 

He shook his head and kissed Rex again. There was a moment when Rex didn't know if he should push or not but he let it go, Red would tell him if became important, and relaxed into the other's touch. After the long months of silence and the engagement from hell, this was a balm to his soul that he needed. 

= 

Red was still braiding his hair back--he really just needed to cut it at some point, mid-back was really too long for his tastes--when he joined Qui-Gon the next morning for meditation. The older man was kneeling on a pillow, eyes closed, incense burning--oh, that was a low-blow. Qui-Gon knew how much Red hated that stinky stuff. So he was a little late, big deal, he didn't have to be a pain about it. 

Red settled onto the other pillow once he was done with his braid and closed his eyes. 

"Have fun last night?" Qui-Gon asked. 

Red opened his eyes to glare at his teacher. "Really? You want to start with that?" The man was grinning at him, blue eyes dancing in a way that meant he was teasing, and Red gave up. "You're awful. Hurry up and get it over with so you can continue to tell me how much I suck at meditating." 

"You're doing very well for someone who has taught themselves," Qui-Gon said. "However, before we begin for the morning, I do have a serious question for you in regards to your affections for Captain Rex." 

Red tilted his head to the side and waited. Dealing with Qui-Gon Jinn was the ultimate test of his patience. 

"What was your relationship with Jango Fett?" Qui-Gon asked. 

Red froze, staring at him. "Excuse me?" 

"I am very glad you are forming healthy relationships with others," Qui-Gon said, "both friendships with Commander Cody, Quinlan Vos and other Jedi, and now with Captain Rex. You have not shared your entire past with me, not that I expect you to, but from what you have shared leads me to believe that it was not pleasant. Many people took advantage of your trust and your willingness to believe the best in people and twisted that." 

Red looked away, a slow curl of shame burning in his chest. "What does this have to do with Jango?" 

"I want to make sure you are seeing Rex for who he is and not as a substitute. It would not be fair to him, nor to the memory of--" 

Red couldn't repress the laugh fast enough. "By all the gods, no!" he gasped out around a giggle, slapping a hand over his mouth. "Oh ew, no. Jango was family, Jinn, never anything more. He named me, gave me a home, a purpose. He was the first one who saw me as a person after being Verath." He felt the humor fade. "Even after all that, and he wouldn't listen to me when I told him not to get involved." 

"Mace is sorry," Qui-Gon said. "He let the battle get the better of him." 

"Sorry doesn't bring back the dead," Red said. He rubbed at his eyes. "Back to your point, no. I am not confusing Rex and Jango. No one can replace Jango." 

Qui-Gon nodded and reached out to take one of Red's hands. Red let him; usually Qui-Gon respected his desire for personal space and the fierce desire to not be touched without consent. This was different, though, in a way. They were growing accustomed to each other's presence and moods and attitudes. This was the touch of another human comforting another, and Red was aware enough to recognize it. 

"Now, since I doubt anyone has actually had this conversation with you," Qui-Gon said, serious in voice and expression. "Do we need to talk about being safe?" 

Red stared at him, eyes widening, and grabbed the pillow from under his butt to fling at Qui-Gon and then hit him with it. "You're the worst!" he shouted as the other man laughed. "You! I! No!!" 

"Are you sure?" Qui-Gon laughed, sprawling back on the floor and letting Red smack him with the pillow. Honestly, the man was horrible. "I only have your best interests in mind." 

Red flushed and smacked Qui-Gon in the face with the pillow one last time before retreating to the other side of the room. "I hate you," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Screw meditating, he wanted to go hit something now. "Completely the worst." 

Qui-Gon was still chuckling as he sat up, setting the meditation pillow aside. "I do want to make sure your relationships are healthy, no matter what form they take." 

Red rolled his eyes. What did Qui-Gon think had happened last night? "I'm not dumb," he said quietly. "We're going slow. I'm not keen on getting my heart broken any more than it already is, and I know how likely that is with Rex fighting on the front lines." 

Qui-Gon nodded. "As you are not a Jedi, I cannot advise you on matters of the heart or about attachment--" 

"I'd call you a hypocrite anyway," Red said. "Skywalker's marriage is the worst secret among the troops." 

"Yes, but the Council does not know," Qui-Gon said, "and I would like to keep it that way." 

"Like I care what happens to Skywalker," Red muttered. 

Qui-Gon arched a brow. 

"I don't!" Red protested. 

"Red," Qui-Gon said, voice gentle. "It's okay to care about people, or to even want to save them from your fate. These feelings and wants are valid." 

"I am not a child, do not treat me like one," Red said, stomping on his temper. No, no, do not lose the temper on a ship in the middle of hyperspace. Losing said temper was generally...explosive. "We are here, with the 501st and your blasted student, because he is an idiot, because the demonspawn is an idiot, because the whole Council is made up of idiotic beings from across the galaxy." 

"You like Plo," Qui-Gon pointed out. 

Red glared at him. "Plo is acceptable." 

"Behold, progress," Qui-Gon said, gently teasing. "Shall we attempt meditation later?" 

"And do what instead?" Red asked, leery of Qui-Gon's suddenly giving mood. 

"I'm sure any number of men from the 501st or 212th would be more than willing to spar," Qui-Gon said. "And before you ask, no, I am still not giving you back your lightsabers. When the time comes, you will craft new ones." 

Red rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "I want those ones, not new ones. But you're right. I'm sure I could find plenty of willing victims." 

"Unless Cody has warned them all away," Qui-Gon said. 

"Then he has to play with me," Red grinned, trying not to take too much enjoyment at the idea of battle. Balance in all things, or so Qui-Gon was trying to teach him. Enjoy the thrill of battle and the hunt, but do not let it consume everything--that was the way of the Sith and the path to Verath. 

"And I'm sure somewhere, somehow, our dear Commander shudders in fear," Qui-Gon said.  


Red huffed and Force-tossed the pillow at Qui-Gon again. So very much the worst. 

= 

Before hunting up someone to fight, Red checked in on their newest acquisition. He had stashed the young Togruta female in a cabin all to herself before he had decided to stalk down Rex last night...and might have forgotten to go back. She could take care of herself, though, he didn't doubt that. She was mouthy and not afraid of him, which was refreshing. 

There were a lot of Jedi who were afraid of him. 

One of their first fights had been over his mask and goggles--Red wanted them back, Qui-Gon had been opposed to them--and ultimately Qui-Gon had won because of Logic. If Red was going to stop running, stop hiding, the first step had to be getting rid of the mask. Not that he had to like it. 

Not that Qui-Gon had to know he still had the mask, goggles, and vocoder stashed away somewhere...just in case. 

"Hey, kid," Red said, popping his head into the Padawan's room. "I'm about to go spar with some of the troops, want to tag along?" 

Ahsoka looked up from where she was doing her own meditations. "There's this amazing invention called knocking," she said. 

"Sparring?" Red asked. 

"Breakfast?" 

Red blinked. "You want to eat before you spar? Do you like throwing up on people?" 

Ahsoka slouched, huffing. "No, you. I meant, I would prefer breakfast over fighting." 

"Boring," Red said, stepping into the room and tugging her to her feet. "Food after fighting. Besides, don't you want to see if we'll run into your new teacher?" 

"You can call him 'Master', you know," Ahsoka said. 

"Nope," Red said. "And if he makes you call him 'Master'? Kick him. He doesn't even call Qui-Gon that." 

"You are so weird," Ahsoka groaned, reaching for her lightsaber. 

"Nope!" Red said again, cheerfully. "Batons." 

Ahsoka turned and glared at him. "Master Jinn needs to let you build new blades," she said finally. "If only so I can actually spar with someone properly." 

"You can fight with Qui-Gon," Red pointed out as he tugged Ahsoka out of the room. She didn't fight him, just gave him that teenager attitude he found delightful, and followed him as he directed them toward the gym. "He still has his 'saber." 

Ahsoka shrugged as they entered the gym. "I'll just get my new Master to train with me." 

Red rolled his eyes. "Ahsoka, really, check with him before you start calling him 'Master', all right? He might not like it." 

"Who might not like what?" Skywalker said from behind them. "And who's the kid?" 

Red froze, clamping down hard on every instinct that screamed at him to attack, and instead turned. Skywalker looked perfectly fine, normal, smiling and brilliant as he and Ahsoka introduced themselves. Red could tell, though, that the corruption had gotten worse. There was something slinking just out of sight along Skywalker's Force signature, like a film of oil covering him and blotting out what normally should be nearly incandescent. Red knew what it was, could intimately remember what it felt like, and the sight of it on someone else made him want to scream. 

What was worse was that Skywalker had snuck up on him. Somehow Red hadn't sensed him. That was very unsettling. Was Sidious helping Skywalker somehow? Red couldn't test another Jedi's shields without being obvious, not with his own control so shaky, but he could mention it to Qui-Gon. 

Or… 

"Hm?" Red asked, realizing the others were speaking to him. 

"Ahsoka mentioned you were going to spar?" Skywalker said, blue eyes watching him sharply. 

"Actually, I just remembered something I have to do," Red said. "I'm sure she'll be much happier to fight with you. I still haven't gotten my lightsabers back so you and her can go a round!" He sketched a quick bow, gave Ahsoka an exaggerated wink, and walked off with a wave. 

He needed to know where, exactly, in the Galaxy they were. Maybe he could talk Qui-Gon or the Admirals into making a quick stop at a system if it wasn't too out of the way. 

= 

"You want us to go where?" Qui-Gon asked. Both he and Admiral Yularen looked highly suspicious, but Red hadn't been able to get to Qui-Gon anywhere except on the bridge, and gave up on the idea of discretion. Cody was there as well and, oh. He was also looking at Red like he was insane. 

"Look, we're already on our way to Tatooine," Red said. "Which, by the way, you need to tell Skywalker. I suggest you do that while we detour to the Dufilvian sector and you let me go to Ord Pardron. I need something down there and it will help with the, uh, current situation." 

"Situation?" Yularen asked, looking incredibly unimpressed. 

Red hated military men. They liked their protocol too much. He turned to look at Qui-Gon, mind racing, and felt the mental nudge. Oh, right. Training bond. 

_It's worse,_ he said. _The hold I saw before is worse now. Let me go to Ord Pardron and I think I can--not break it--but dampen it._

Qui-Gon walked over to the map of the galaxy, examining their position. _Is it Dark_? 

_The spell?_ Red asked, trying to remember it. He also wanted to pick up some other supplies he no longer had but… _No, not at the heart. It has been twisted over the centuries but--_

"Red, might I have a word?" Qui-Gon asked, gesturing them off the bridge. 

Hesitating for a moment, Red glanced at Cody who gave him a raised brow and a smile, and sighed. Oh fine, his grave, he got it. He followed Qui-Gon off the bridge and to an empty conference room. 

"How bad?" Qui-Gon asked quietly. 

"I think the whole reason we couldn't contact the _Resolute_ was because Skywalker did something," Red said. "You said that the Council could get through and no one else?" 

"The Chancellor," Qui-Gon added. 

Red barely hid his shudder. "Rex said that he only knew the 212th was okay because of the gossip network," he said. "That would be refueling stations, maybe other channels the Jedi don't know about. The clones have their own methods of communicating with their brothers." 

"Anakin wouldn't willingly hamstring his own troops," Qui-Gon said. 

"I'm telling you that I don't think he's in control," Red said, then paused. "No, that's not right." He tugged on the end of his braid, thinking on how to explain the situation. "Do you know what coercion is, what it does to a person?" 

"There are many types of coercion," Qui-Gon said, sitting down at the table. 

Red shook his head, "Not like this. This is, what he does? It's distinct." He bit his lip and looked down, away from Qui-Gon, trying not to focus on the shame, anger, hate surging through him. 

"Accept the feelings, Red," Qui-Gon said gently. "What happened to you happened, but you survived. These feelings are valid. You are allowed to feel them, but you should release them so they do not own you." 

"You don't understand," he whispered. "Sometimes you want to hold onto them so you remember to never get caught in such a stupid trap again." 

"There are other ways of remembering such a lesson." 

"You don't know how it starts," Red said softly. "You never know. One day you're fighting with everything you have because you _know_ what he is, that he is Sith and that you should be doing everything you can to kill him, and the next thing you know you are kneeling at his feet." His throat worked, trying to swallow down the memories, and he squeezed his eyes closed. He could still remember what his touch felt like. "You can be trying to kill him in one moment and then next he, he…" 

"Red," Qui-Gon said, getting to his feet. 

"No," Red said, drawing back and pressing up against the wall. He couldn't do this, couldn't think. He could only feel, could only remember that oily touch across his mind, those cool fingers that gripped his hip, that smug voice. 

Qui-Gon was in front of him, reaching out, fingers brushing against his wrist. He didn't see Qui-Gon, though, he saw Sidious with that false smile and those eyes that could go from kind to enraged in a heartbeat. 

"Don't touch me," he hissed out, feeling his eyes burn. Rage. All he felt was rage. He wanted to destroy, to carve a bloody path back to Coruscant until he had Sidious in his path, until he could force the other to feel as much pain as he had inflicted on Red. Until he could rip him to shreds like he had ripped Red to shreds. 

Qui-Gon drew back slowly. "Obi-Wan," the other said gently. "Red. Focus on the here and now." 

"I--I can't," he wailed, trying to think about anything else. No, his mind was tripping along the dark lines instead, remember rooms draped in silks and-- 

He heard the door swish open and he turned, pulling a knife from his boot as he did. The Competition. He, he had to eliminate the Competition. It would please his Master if he did so, if he proved that he was the strongest. 

"Qui-Gon!" the Competition shouted. 

"Anakin, leave," the obstacle in front of him said. 

_Yes,_ a voice purred across his mind. _Rage for me, my Wrath. My Anger._

"No!" he shouted, clapping his hands over his ears. "Get out of my head!" 

_Did you really think I'd leave you alone?_ _Foolish Apprentice_. 

There was shouting, someone else trying to reach his mind, but he didn't care. No, no, he couldn't do this again. He had gotten away! He was free from him! 

_Never_! 

Connection, there was a connection, somehow a connection had been built and he needed to break it. His mind babbled frantically as someone grabbed him, tried to take his knife away. His mind couldn't process faces, too locked in fear and panic, but it knew what he had to do. 

"Medic," he managed to say as he brought the knife down hard on his thigh, cutting deep. 

Pain exploded throughout his system and the connection broke. He collapsed to the floor, still clutching the hilt of the blade, eyes sliding closed. Oh, fuck, that...really hurt. 

"Red?" Qui-Gon asked. 

"This really hurts," Red said as he started to fall to the side, opening his eyes. Qui-Gon darted in, propping him up, a glowing hand hovering over the knife wound. His head flopped against Qui-Gon's shoulder and he swore. Did he hit the artery? He tried to look and yeah, that was a disturbingly large amount of blood. 

"Talk to me," Qui-Gon ordered as he poured Force-energy into the wound. "Captain Rex went to get Kix. They're on their way." 

"He was in my head," Red said softly. "I don't know how. He shouldn't have been able to." 

"Who?" Skywalker asked, looking pale with...some emotion. Weird. Did he actually care? 

"Sidious," Red said. He reached up and cupped Skywalker's cheek with a smile. "Little whispers. You hear him. Don't listen. Not worth it. Don't be me." 

"Stop it," Qui-Gon said. "You have good aim, Red, I'll give you that, but you didn't obliterate the artery. Just nicked it from what I can see. You've earned Kix's wrath and bacta, nothing more." 

"No," Red moaned. "No bacta." 

"Yes, bacta," Qui-Gon said. "You'll need to be in perfect shape in we're to land on Ord Pardron." 

"What?" Skywalker asked. "Why are we going there?" 

"Stuff," Red said. "All the stuff." 

"Kriffing hells," Kix said as he and Rex came into the room. He shoved the Jedi aside and knelt next to Red, not caring about the blood smearing his armor. "Don't you have enough scars, _ori'vod_?" 

Red smiled, starting to have problems focusing on things. "Ahh, but scars are so cool, _vod'ika_." 

Kix glared at him and yanked the knife out, tossing it aside before tying a pressure bandage on. "Bacta for you," he said. "All the bacta. Hours of it. And you're going to shut up and like it." 

"Have a bucket standing by," Red said faintly. "And those...meds." 

"How much blood has he lost?" Skywalker asked, sounding alarmed. 

"Considering how much we're sitting in? Just enough to start passing out," Kix said. Red tried to laugh but oh, that was his head spinning and the nice blackness calling. 

= 

"I know you like him, Qui-Gon," Anakin said, "but that was dangerous. He lost control!" 

"No, he didn't," Qui-Gon said as they approached the bridge and the comm unit. He was not looking forward to reporting this latest slip. "He did not attack anyone except himself, he did not damage to the ship, and I had the situation under control. I am not sure the exact cause of his flashback, but they do happen and will continue to happen. Red is a trauma victim, Anakin. Trauma does not just go away once you open yourself up to the Light side of the Force." 

"His eyes," Anakin said, sounding disturbed as Qui-Gon input the Council's frequency. "They… How can you teach him?" 

"Yes, Anakin, for a moment he slipped and touched the Dark," Qui-Gon said. "He let his fear and anger get the better of him and it caused his eyes to go yellow." He mulled over Anakin's question, giving it the thought it deserved, that both his students deserved. "I can teach him because, in part, I am at fault for the path he chose and because I am best suited to help him back toward the Light." 

"Qui-Goin?" 

He would have replied but three holographic figures appeared--Mace, Yoda, and… 

"Chancellor," Qui-Gon said, bowing. Ankain echoed his greeting happily and did the same. 

"Something to report, you have?" Yoda asked. 

"There was an incident with Red earlier," Qui-Gon said. "We were discussing a topic of his past and it triggered a bad reaction--" 

"He Sithed out," Anakin cut in. 

"Oh, my," the Chancellor said. "I do question the wisdom of trying to rehabilitate this man. Wouldn't it just be better to lock him up?" 

"No," Mace said, glancing at the Chancellor. "Qui-Gon, what happened?" 

"I made a mistake," Qui-Gon said, tired. He should have known better, especially with knowing that touch was almost an automatic trigger with his student. "I didn't realize he was flashing back until I touched him and then it was too late. It pushed him further into whatever memory he was caught up in and." Qui-Gon frowned, unable to say with any certainty what had actually happened next. "He stopped recognizing his environment and the people in it, but not for long, less than a couple of minutes." 

"Better, he is," Yoda said, ears lifting. 

"The disturbing part," Qui-Gon said, "is that he buried a knife in his thigh and nearly severed the big artery there before we could dump him in bacta." 

"Do we know why?" Mace asked. 

"He said the Sith Lord was in his head," Qui-Gon said. 

"This is not good news," Mace said, cupping his chin and frowning. "How long will he be in bacta for?" 

"Not long, a few hours," Qui-Gon said. 

"Even more reason," the Chancellor said, "to remove him from the front lines. He is obviously a risk to security. If this Sith Lord can get inside his head then our military plans are at risk!" 

"All due respect, Chancellor," Qui-Gon said with a smile. "Red has no interest in the military." 

"That's not true," Anakin said. "He cares about the clones." 

Qui-Gon wanted to roll his eyes. "All right, to be more specific--Red has no interest in the battles and maneuvers we run. When I can get him to sit still long enough to talk tactics, he's utterly brilliant at them, but he sees the conflict between the Republic and Separatists as." Qui-Gon paused, trying to remember the wording Red had used. "He called it superficial cover, unimportant in the grand scheme, that we were still missing it, whatever it was." 

The Chancellor smiled. "I would very much like to meet this 'Red' of yours, Master Jinn." 

"Unfortunately, Chancellor, they do not come to Coruscant," Mace said. "Thank you, Qui-Gon. Keep us updated on his condition, and anything else that might crop up." 

"Ah, meet Ahsoka, have you, Skywalker?" Yoda asked. 

"Yes?" Anakin said. 

"Excellent. Your new Padawan, she is. Teach her well, you shall," Yoda said, and cut the comm. 

Qui-Gon gave in and started laughing; oh, nicely played, Master Yoda. 

"What?" Anakin whispered. 

"You've been assigned a Padawan," Qui-Gon chuckled. "I do hope you like her, I can't teach two students." 

"But!" 

"But?" Qui-Gon asked, still chuckling. 

"How am I supposed to know what to teach her? I mean, Qui-Gon, I don't know how!" Anakin protested. 

"None of us ever do," Qui-Gon said, clasping Anakin's shoulders and smiling at him. He hoped Red was wrong, that he wasn't about to lose Anakin to the Sith Lord. "But that is why you ask for help. I am here, as is Master Yoda, your friends, and every other Jedi. We are all here for you, Anakin. All you need to do is ask." 

= 

Red snuck out of the med bay the moment Kix stopped terrorizing him. Yes, yes, so he stabbed himself with a large knife. He was fine. Bacta was awesome, yes, he just had bad reactions to the stuff. Nothing to make a fuss over. 

Though, apparently, Kix was more upset that they--the whole of the 501st--hadn't know what had become of him. The medic had been more stabby with the hypos and sassier than Red remembered, apparently because he was concerned? Red wasn't sure what to make of that, not yet, but he needed to see Rex first. He'd deal with the problem of the 501st later. 

He found an unoccupied corner and leaned against the metal of the ship and let his senses drift, looking for Rex in the Force. Every clone was different, millions of sparkling lights and brilliant dancing waves, but Rex called to him in a way he hadn't known until recently. He hadn't been paying attention to the Force when they first met, but now? There was something about the man's presence that soothed and warmed him, the way he glowed in the Force, it was the exact kind of balm Red needed. 

There. 

Red pushed away from the bit of wall he was holding up and followed the path to a room where Rex, Cody, Gregor, and two other 501st were. 

Oh. 

Red tried not to deflate as they all stood and while Cody and Gregor treated him like any other schlub, the 501st saluted. 

"Okay, first off," Red said, pointing at them--including Rex. "I'm not a Jedi, so knock that shit off." 

"General Jinn is training you, isn't he, sir?" one of the 501st said. 

"And?" Red asked, grabbing a chair and spinning it to straddle it backwards. "I don't know any of you. Who are you?" 

"Jesse," a clone with a giant Galactic Republic tattoo on his face said. 

"Hardcase," another said, this one with another tattoo that began under his right eye and went over his head. 

Red nodded. "Nice to meet you, I'm Red. No other titles or bullshit." The clones grinned. "Qui-Gon is training me because the Jedi Council thinks it's better I'm on their side." 

"Why's that?" Hardcase asked. 

Red grinned at Cody. "What's the thing we did? That we're not allowed to try again? Qui-Gon shouted at me for hours over it, it was great." 

Cody snorted and grabbed the bottle in the middle of the table, pouring himself a very generous drink. "You are a crazy bastard," he said, tossing the drink back. "Let's navigate into an asteroid field and play 'what's more powerful, this spell I just found or a Venator-class Destroyer's turbolasers?'" 

Rex stared at Red. "You didn't." 

He smiled innocently. "To be fair, I knew the spell and how to use it, I had just never cast it before." 

Cody rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's so much better. I thought the General was going to die of a heart attack when he came on the bridge and saw what you were doing." 

Red was trying very hard not to grin. "Better to ask for forgiveness than permission?" 

"Can we keep him, Captain?" Hardcase asked, eyes wide. 

"Uh, yeah, we...need to keep you," Jesse said. "You'd fit in so much better with the 501st. What are you doing with the 212th?" 

"Kriff you," Gregor said, stealing the bottle from Cody. "The 212th is where the action is." 

"Certainly is now," Cody said, looking pointedly at Red. "And what's this about you stabbing yourself? Don't you have enough scars?" 

"Eh, Sith mindfuckery," Red said, waving a hand. Great, the gossip chain was in overdrive. He was going to be drowning in his overprotective brothers if he didn't get Rex away soon. "It's dealt with." 

Cody muttered under his breath. "We need more liquor. Rex, why don't you and Red go get more? We can play sabaac when you get back." 

Rex stood and nodded. "Yeah, we can do that." 

Red was going to kiss Cody, whether the bastard liked it or not! He got to his feet and smiled at the others. "I love sabaac. Haven't played since, what, Longshot and Oddball tried to convince me strip sabaac was a thing?" 

Gregor started laughing. "That was a good night!" 

Rex tilted his head in the direction of the door and Red followed as the others started debating the rules of strip sabaac. Though, he could have sworn he heard Gregor tell Cody to pay up. When Rex moved in the opposite direction of the crew quarters, Red shook his head, grabbed Rex's hand, and led him where he wanted. If anyone saw? He didn't care. He wasn't a Jedi, he was outside the GAR's chain of command. There was literally nothing they could do to Rex, or to him, and he would challenge anyone who tried to hurt either of them. 

The moment the door closed behind them, Rex grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug. Red smiled and hugged him back, breathing him in. Yes, this was what he had wanted. Maybe not with the armor, but still, he wanted Rex's arms around him. 

Strange how fast he had come to crave the feeling. 

"You're okay," Rex said, a wealth of emotion in those words. 

"I'm sorry," Red said, the words just falling from his lips. He didn't know why he said them, he hadn't even apologized to Qui-Gon, but he was to Rex. Interesting. 

"I'd say don't do it again, but I know better," Rex said, slowly letting go. "You can't help but be you." 

Red stared at him and pulled Rex into a kiss, needing so much to just. No. He needed. He couldn't think of words and tried instead to say everything instead with the kiss, pressing close, eyes closed, holding Rex's face to his. The blond made a startled noise but kissed back, hands on his waist, not restraining at all. 

How? How did he know? How was he so utterly perfect? 

Red wanted to climb inside Rex's skin and live there, safe, because that's what Rex made him feel. The man never pushed, always seemed to know, and just accepted Red in a way that he didn't know what to do. A tiny part of him didn't feel worthy, wanted to run from this, to get away from Rex before he hurt the other man--because he knew eventually he was going to hurt him, somehow, he would. 

"Whatever you're thinking, stop," Rex murmured against his lips. 

Red laughed. "You're perfect." 

"Could make a joke about engineering," Rex said. 

Red shook his head. "No," he said. "Not like that. You know...you know how to deal with me." He kissed Rex again, brief, before nuzzling at his jaw, just wanting that closeness. Human touch, intimacy, things he had denied himself and long thought gone from his life. "You get me." 

Rex coughed, still holding him. "I, uh, cheated?" he admitted. 

Red drew back enough to see Rex's face, frowning. "Cheated?" he asked. 

"I didn't know if I was going to see you again," Rex said, "but I hoped? And if I did, I wanted to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. So I looked for books." 

"Books," Red repeated. 

Rex looked embarrassed. "Some of them were complete _ossik_ , even I could see that. A few actually made sense, and had good tips on dealing with some of my Shinies too, and just with trauma overall." 

Red blinked, feeling oddly...pleased. "For six months you had no idea what had happened to me, if I was locked up or if the Jedi had killed me, and yet you still read up on how to deal with trauma survivors, just in case?" 

Rex rubbed the back of his neck. "Sounds dumb when you say it like that." 

Red smiled and kissed him. "Take off your armor, soldier." 

"Any particular reason?" Rex asked, reaching up to start undoing the snaps. 

"Because it's more comfortable on your bed, I'm still tired from the bacta, and I like kissing you," Red said. "All of these things mean--" 

"Yeah, I get it, armor bruises are no fun," Rex said. 

"Also, Kix might go for your head if he sees me bruised," Red said, sitting on Rex's bed. "Wow but I forgot how snippy he is." 

Rex chuckled, hanging the armor on the stand in the corner. "He likes you. There's not a lot of people Kix likes, and he's told some of the others about you so they're going to want to meet you too." 

"Even more overprotective brothers," Red said as Rex joined him on the bed. Those blacks really were fun, he decided, didn't leave a lot to the imagination. "Just what I need. The 212th has decided that I need all the babysitters and I am incapable of looking after myself." 

"I'm sure that is definitely not Cody's fault," Rex said as they stretched out together. 

"Oh, it's completely Cody's fault," Red said, scooting close and snagging Rex's hand with his. Their fingers tangled and Red examined their fingers, curious. "Cody's a complete jerk when he wants to be. Good friend, total jerk." 

Rex's hands were rough, not that Red's were any better, both nicked with tiny scars here and there, his thicker and blunter where Red's were… well. His hands had gotten him his first job on that merchant ship. It's why Captain Ramnel had kept him on the ship instead of spacing him when he'd left the Temple. Tiny fingers are better at repairing things on a big ship than an adult's big hands. Even after he'd grown fully, his hands had stayed in a decent enough shape that he could wiggle them into the annoying crevices on a ship and engine that needed repairs. 

Rex brought their clasped hands up to Red's face, tilting his chin up so he could kiss him. Red smiled into the kiss. Brilliant man. 

"What happened?" Rex asked. When Red frown, Rex kissed him again. "Before. With the knife." 

Red drew back. Oh. "You mean why?" 

Rex nodded. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." 

He thought about it, about telling Rex, but the words died in his throat. He shook his head and pressed closer. He could talk about anything else that had happened to him--probably--but Sidious? He didn't know if he would ever be ready to talk about that. All he could think to do was to protect against similar attacks in the future, both Skywalker and himself. 

Rex held him, arms snaking around him, pressing kisses to his face and head, murmuring nonsense. Red closed his eyes and clutched at Rex's arms. 

"When we land," Red said, after a moment, "on Ord Pardron. I want you to come with me. You and Cody, Kix too. Just in case things go badly." 

"Anyone else?" Rex asked. 

Red reached for the Force, listening. "Maybe. I'll let you and Cody decide. I don't think there will be trouble, but just in case." 

Rex nodded and kissed him, smiling. "We're good when it comes to trouble." 

"Hopefully you're good at causing a little of your own too?" Red said, letting his hands move from Rex's arms to his waist, teasing. Rex looked at him and Red rolled his eyes. He wanted to get his hands on whatever Rex had read now; what did those books say? "Slow is good, but I want your shirt off." 

"Any particular reason why?" Rex asked, pulling away enough to do what Red had asked. 

Red grinned, tugging his own shirt off and tossing it over his shoulder somewhere. "Because you're nice to look at? And we weren't done talking about scars last night. We fell asleep." 

Rex nodded, leaning over to kiss a jagged scar on Red's shoulder. "Fair enough. Why don't we start with this one?" 

Red ran his hands over Rex's skin as he talked, getting used to the feel of someone against him, and relaxed. 

= 

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Qui-Gon asked quietly. 

Red shook his head though he wasn't really looking at Qui-Gon. Skywalker was there, with Ahsoka, and Red was watching them more than anything else. Qui-Gon snapped his fingers in front of Red's face and Red looked at him, scowling. 

"Focus," his teacher said. "I've let you avoid me two days because I know you needed it. We still need to talk about what happened." 

"After this," Red said. 

"That's fine," Qui-Gon said. 

"Watch them," Red said, nodding at the other Jedi. "I have a bad feeling about this." 

"Do you?" Qui-Gon asked, looking startled. 

"Not about Ord Pardron," Red said, shaking his head. "About them." 

"You do like Ahsoka," Qui-Gon said. 

Red ignored the comment. "We have comms and we'll be armed. It'd be better if I had my 'sabers?" 

Qui-Gon was trying not to smiled. "You have your blasters and your knives, and I know you have a baton." 

"Still not my lightsabers," Red said as he crossed his arms. "When are you going to give them back?" 

"As I said, you will craft new ones," Qui-Gon said. 

Red narrowed his eyes. "The only way to make new ones is on Coruscant." 

"Not the only way," Qui-Gon said. "There are other Temples. After this business with Jabba we will make a stop at Corellia." 

Red nodded, "All right. I like Corellia." He gave Qui-Gon a smug look. "The Gold Beaches and Coronet City are wonderful." 

"Red," Qui-Gon chidded. "We do not have leisure time." 

"Down time is good for everyone, you taught me that," Red said, poking Qui-Gon in the chest. 

"Red, we're good to go when you are," Cody said. 

"I mean it," Red said. "Watch them? Him especially." 

"I will. Be careful?" Qui-Gon said. 

Red waved Qui-Gon off and followed Cody to a gunship. Cody and Rex had chosen Kix, Jesse, Boil, and Waxer. He waited until the ship had sealed itself before he fished his vocoder, masked, and goggles out of his pocket. Cody started laughing. 

"The General is going to be so mad," Cody said. "He thought he got all of them." 

Red slapped the vocoder on his throat and made a face. It was weird to be wearing it again. "I've been to Ord Pardron before," he said. "As Verath, not as Red. Just in case we run into any of the locals who dealt with me before, it's better they don't make the connection." 

"Sir?"Jesse asked. 

Red pulled on the mask and then the goggles. "I'm not 'sir', Jesse. I told you, it's Red." 

"Or _ori'vod_ ," Kix said. 

"Or 'hey, asshole'," Waxer said. 

"Yeah, that works too," Red grinned. "I don't really care about protocol and titles and all that shit. I leave that to the Jedi." 

"What are we looking for?" Rex asked. 

Red hummed softly, thinking about how much to reveal about what he was planning. "Certain spells require physical aspects to complete it." 

"Aren't spells...Sith things?" Jesse asked. 

Red shrugged, grabbing onto a handle as the ship bumped through the planet's thin atmosphere. "It depends upon your point of view?" he said. "I'm rather fond of the arcane aspects of the Force. The origins are in the Dark side, yes, but it doesn't mean that the results have to be Dark." 

"And this would be why the Jedi Council is letting you live free," Cody said. 

"And I help with information, adding it to Vos'," Red said. Not that he turned over everything he knew. He knew how to stay useful to the Jedi, how to keep himself free. But he liked Quinlan and had no problem working with the other Jedi. "But the Council likes to think they hold my leash." 

Boil was laughing. "No disrespect meant, but are they nuts? You do what you want!" 

"Eh, the Council can think what they want," Red said as they landed. "It'll only blow up in their faces if they push." 

"What can we expect here?" Kix asked. 

"Low grav, temperate," Red said, trying to remember. "Not much past that. We're heading to one of the main markets. There are certain minerals and herbs that can only be found here." He wondered if the old woman with the candles was still there. She had fascinated him before and he wondered what she might make of him now. 

"Sounds...fun?" Waxer said. 

"Fun with Red," Boil said. "Should pack extra ammo." 

Red grabbed an extra charge pack and threw it at Boil's customized helmet, hitting the upside-down red triangle and black symbol. Boil rocked back, catching it, and laughed. Cody clapped his brother on the shoulder. 

"What the kriff has the 212th been getting up to?" Jesse asked. 

"Wouldn't believe us if we told you," Waxer said as the gunship doors opened. 

"I've been having fun rubbing Qui-Gon's nose in how fucked up the Galaxy is," Red said, stepping out onto the rocky soil. "He's been trying to teach me Jedi lessons I would have learned years ago. Lots of fun." 

"Running, shooting, fighting," Waxer said. 

"Not a lot of Seppies," Boil said. "Lot of other stuff though. Lot of nastiness." 

Red shook his head. "I've told you, this whole war is a scheme." 

"And I think you're mental," Waxer said. 

Red shrugged. Some in the 212th had listened to him, some hadn't. Some had walked away from him looking concerned, others angry. He understood why--their brothers in other battalions were dying in large numbers for no reasons whatsoever, and if this whole war was for nothing? Then what were they dying for? 

He desperately wished someone, anyone, was there to help him figure out what to do to help them. But there was no one else, just him. 

"How far is the market?" Rex asked. 

Red pointed in the direction of the market, "Not too far that way." 

The troopers nodded and Red lead them toward the stalls he could just begin to see. These goggles were better than his original ones, modded with enhanced vision and recordings. There were other features but they were little HUDs and he was thrilled with them. 

The market, when they did arrive, was thriving. It looked like it was market day--livestock were in pens and locals were talking in trading languages rapidly as credits exchanged hands. Red loved the energy he could feel, watching the different people he could see, even the pickpockets. 

"Watch yourselves," he warned, sidestepping one of the urchins. "They don't discriminate here." 

"No kidding," Boil said, slapping a kid's hand away from belt. 

Afterwards, Red decided, he'd come back with whatever he had left and give out his credits. He remembered what it was like to be hungry and not know where your next meal or bed would be. But first, he needed-- 

"The Moirai are watching, Wrath." 

Red stopped and turned, his heart pounding. 

A blind woman sat on a yellow woven blanket, several different lit candles spread around her, as she tossed several small bones from hand to hand. She was just as he remembered all those years ago--a young face with salt-and-pepper hair puffed up around her face, hands weathered and wrinkled with yellowing nails, a body hunched as she jangled the bones in those hands. 

"What the?" one of the clones said. Red stopped being able to focus on anything but the woman. 

He sat down at the edge of her blanket. "Pythia," he greeted her, bowing at the waist, hands out to her palms upturned. 

She chuckled. "That is not my name." 

Red straightened, smiling. "Wrath is not my name." 

"But it will be again," she said. 

Red's smile faded, feeling his heart in his throat. "No." 

"Clotho is spinning, always spinning, Wrath. Lachesis already measured you, you cannot change that, and Atropos comes swiftly." 

"I am not afraid of death," Red said. 

The blind woman trickled the bones from hand to hand, slowly. "No, never afraid to die. You yearn for it at times, begged for it, but never feared it." 

Red was silent. 

"Erebus is rising, Wrath. As he does, all of Ophion perishes. This you must stop." 

Red grit his teeth. "You told me to run, before." 

"You did not listen. You will listen now." 

Red felt his eyes burn and turned his head to look away. Curse her. 

"Do not curse me, I have been cursed enough," the woman said, voice sad. "Would you like your bones read?" 

"No," Red said. 

"You will find what you are looking for here," the woman said. "But beware, what you do will have far reaching consequences." 

Red got to his feet. "It needs to be done." 

"He named you wrong, Wrath," the woman said, jangling the bones again. "Keres, I name you." 

Red snorted. "I am not a woman." 

"A death-spirit has no gender," the woman said, looking at him with those empty sockets. "Violent death and destruction is what you bring to those around you. Beware." 

Red fished out a credit and tossed it in her bowl before bowing to her, formal and stiff. "I thank you for your wisdom," he said. "May the gods bless you, wise woman." 

"Walk without fear, Keres," the woman said. "You have much to do before Atropos cuts your thread." 

Red turned away from her and walked away, not looking to see if the others followed. He needed to get away. Oh, fuck. He had asked for this, hadn't he? He had wanted to know what she would make of him this time around, to know if--but no. Of course not. 

"Red," Cody said, stopping him with his voice. The troopers knew better than to grab him. "What was that?" 

"The Jedi like to think they're the only ones who use the Force," Red said, bitter. "They're wrong. There are sects all over the Galaxy who use the Force, in big ways and small. I don't know who she is or how she fits into the fabric of the Force, but she's a reader. I called her an oracle the first time I met her and she nearly kicked my ass, blind and weaponless she still managed to floor me. She… It doesn't matter. Whatever she said, it doesn't matter." 

"You sure?" Cody asked, taking his helmet off. "Because you look spooked as hell." 

Red growled. "I'm--" 

"Body language," Cody said. "I've gotten good at reading yours." 

"Let's get what we came for and get off this rock," Red said. 

"Rex is trying to talk Jesse and Kix out of beating up the old lady, for what it's worth," Cody said, putting his helmet back on. 

Red sighed as they rejoined the others. Kix and Jesse did indeed look furious, buckets off and hissing words at Rex, who was hiding behind his own helmet. 

"I appreciate it," Red said. "But if you tried to go back to her now, she wouldn't be there." All six clones turned to look at him. "She is only ever where you need her to be at that time, never anywhere else at any other point." 

"That's kriffed," Jesse said, staring at him. 

Red shrugged. "As I've heard Cody put it once? Force hoodoo." 

"Erhm, you...weren't supposed to hear that," Cody said. 

"It's a good explanation!" Red said. He tilted his head in the direction of the corner of the market they needed. "This way." 

They made their way through the crowds, Rex and Cody coming up to bracket him between them, and Red let them without protest. He knew they were probably on a private channel between all of them, talking about him and what they heard, but he didn't care. It didn't matter anymore. What mattered was removing, or blocking, whatever compulsion Sidious had on Skywalker. Then Red would turn his attention to himself and burning out whatever paths were left open between them. 

He stopped at one booth when he saw the drying herbs hanging from top of the stall. He gently bumped his fist to an open palm in front of his chest and bowed to the merchant behind the booth. "Do you trade or accept credits?" he asked. 

"Credits are fine," the merchant--a male Jenet--said. "What do you seek?" 

"Wormwood," Red said, letting his hands fall to his sides. "Mandrake." 

The Jenet nodded. "Nasty plants." 

"I need them in decent quantities," Red said. "Less quantities of Acacia, Ground Ash, and Rue. If you have a bundle of White Sage, I will take that as well." 

The Jenet looked at him, startled. "Sorcerer," he said, voice hushed. 

"No," Red said, shaking his head. 

"Yes," the Jenet said, whiskers trembling. 

Red rubbed at the bridge of his nose under his goggles. "I also need stones, two of each. Amber, Amethyst, Bloodstone, Malachite, Selenite, and Tourmaline." 

The Jenet gathered everything quickly, putting the items together in a bag, before shoving it at Red. "Take. Take and leave." 

The Jenet knew who he was, that was the only explanation. He took the bag and dropped several credits on the stall's counter. The Jenet reared back, not touching the money. 

"Dirty," he said. "Unclean." 

Red sighed and picked the credits back up. More for the urchins then. 

"How dare you," Kix hissed. 

"Relax, _vod'ika_ ," Red said, turning to put a hand on Kix's shoulder guard. "To many, what I do is against the natural order. It is their right." And at least they weren't rioting. Granted, if they remembered Verath, they wouldn't dare. 

"Are we done?" Rex asked. 

Red nodded. "I just want to give the rest of the credits to the kids," he said. "So they can spread it around and eat a decent meal." 

Cody held out his hand. "Why don't you head to the ship? Waxer and I will do it." 

Red hesitated but nodded, handing over his credit pouch. Cody had a point. Between the woman and the Jenet, if anyone else made him as Verath they might have trouble. Kix stuck close to his side, muttering unhappy things, as they boarded the gunship. Red bumped shoulders with him, smiling. 

It was nice to know that, no matter what, he always had the clones on his side. 

= 

Rex was not expecting to be cornered by men from the 212th and the 501st. That's not to say he was surprised, not with the way Gregor was grinning and distributing credits amongst some of their brothers, but honestly. 

"What do you _di'kut_ want?" he asked. 

"It's been brought to our attention, Captain," Hardcase said. "That you've got a boyfriend." 

Rex turned and bellowed, "CODY, YOU TRAITOR!" 

All of them, to a brother, started laughing. 

"He's the _ori'vod_ , right?" someone in 501st blue asked. 

"Yep," Kix said. "He's _ours_." 

"Not in the chain of command, either," one of the 212th said. "You try to call him 'sir' and he will utterly destroy you. Especially in the gym!" 

"He's gotten better," Cody said, pushing his way forward and handing Rex a cup of some sort of alcohol. Rex arched a brow at Cody, questioning. "He used to be a lot twitchier, especially in the beginning. He's relaxed a lot more now. You saw that with Jesse and Hardcase." 

Rex nodded and took a sip, then swore. "What the kriff?!" 

"Tup brewed that up special," Slick said. "This is a good day! You've been hung up on Red since the beginning, though now we know who it is." 

"Yeah, Captain," Appo chimed in. "You haven't been interested in bedding anyone in six months. That's a long time to go without letting off a little steam." 

Rex leaned against Cody. "I can't space my own men, right?" 

"Nope," Cody said, grinning. 

"Hey, you better be thinking about _riduurok_ if you're going to touch our Red!" one of the 212th said. Rex couldn't see who it was. 

"Crys!" Cody snapped. "Knock that _ossik_ off." 

"I am not drunk enough for this," Rex announced, draining his cup, wincing as it burned its way down. He held it out to Cody for a refill. "All right, go on, let's get this over with." 

His brothers cheered again and the questions started up again. Rex shook his head and gave up. He wouldn't answer anything personal, or invasive, but he gave the bastards enough to keep them gossiping for months. 

= 

Qui-Gon looked up as Ahsoka knocked on his door. "Hello, young one. How can I help you?" 

She looked nervous, rubbing one of her arms and biting her lip. "Master Jinn, may I speak to you about something?" 

"Of course," Qui-Gon said, frowning and pushing away from his desk. "You can talk to me about anything." 

She stepped inside and the door swished closed. "It's about Master Skywalker." 

Qui-Gon got up, yielding the desk chair to her and sitting on his bed. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can--" 

"I don't want him to be my Master," Ahsoka blurted out as she sat, hugging herself. "I'd rather go back to the creche." 

Qui-Gon's eyebrows flew up. "Ahsoka?" 

Ahsoka looked at her knees, tugging on her skirt. "Red kept saying that I should check with Master Skywalker, because of his past, that maybe he wouldn't want to be called 'Master'." 

"It's a touchy word with him," Qui-Gon said. "He doesn't like to use it." 

"I didn't bring it up, he did," Ahsoka said. "He told me that he was my Master now and that I would address him as such at all times. There were all these, these rules that he started listing that made no sense, and nothing I've ever heard of being necessary for learning to be a Jedi." 

Qui-Gon let out a deep sigh. "Oh, Ahsoka. I am so sorry. Would you be willing to give him another chance if I spoke to him?" 

Ahsoka looked at him, frowning. "What good will talking do?" 

Qui-Gon chuckled. "You two are very similar, and I think you would make an excellent team. Anakin is currently going through a...rough patch. Red is going to attempt to help him but until then, I would suggest avoiding him or playing along." 

Ahsoka shook her head, montrals swaying. "I don't understand." 

"We will explain, Red and I, once we can. For the moment, I would work on your studies or stay with the clones. Cody or Rex, or any of their commanders, will be sufficient." 

Ahsoka stood but hesitated. "If, after all that, we still don't match well?" 

"Then we will find you a new Master," Qui-Gon promised. "Maybe Master Plo will have some suggestions?" 

Ahsoka brightened and nodded. "Thank you, Master Qui-Gon." She bowed and bid him good night before leaving. 

Qui-Gon sighed, stretching out on the bed and reached out to Red. 

_Busy_ , Red sent. 

_Are you almost ready for the spell_? Qui-Gon asked. 

_Moments_ , Red said. _Go away, preparing. Keep people away from my room._

_Should I have Kix or Sawbones on stand-by_? 

_No blood needed_. And then Red's very distinct door-slamming on the bond and Qui-Gon sighed. Please, let this work. 

= 

Red knelt in a pair of loose black pants, humming softly under his breath, as he lit the white candles he had found on the ship. He had set them in a circle and placed the stones between them, a bowl in front of him. 

The bowl was old, etched with ancient symbols that were neither Sith or Jedi in origin, but made of a shiny black stone that Red had never found anywhere else. He knew where it had likely come from but he was not going to go looking for more such items, no matter how much they fascinated him. He held out his hand and conjured fire in the bowl. 

In the other hand he held a lock of Skywalker's hair, having cut it earlier that afternoon when the younger man had snarled something at him. 

He fed it to the fire, whispering ancient words of power, before reaching for the first herb. First, the wormwood, to protect and banish, and then the mandrake, to break possession. He tossed in a garlic bulb he had filched from the kitchens, watching it sizzle, sketching a warding symbol in the smoke of the bowl. 

He heard someone pounding on his door and shouting, but he kept working. He pinched off a bit of the rue and threw it in, chanting other words now, words to protect. He added the ground ash and some of the acacia, knowing he needed to save the rest for himself, but Skywalker was the priority. 

The pounding stopped. 

He held his hands over the bowl and the fire went out. He gathered up the ashes and the stones he had used, tucking everything into a tiny, black silk bag stitched with ancient runes that matched his bowl. 

He opened the door to see Skywalker, Qui-Gon, Rex, and Cody. 

"Take this," he said, handing the bag to Skywalker. "Do not lose it. Keep it on your body at all times." 

Skywalker was pale as he took it. "What…?" 

"You have spent a very large amount of time in the company of the Sith Lord," Red said, hoping Qui-Gon or Skywalker understood what he was saying. He could not name Sidious and this was as close as he could get to it. Take this clue and understand, he wanted to beg, please! "He had had you under a very power compulsion spell and, when you met my artifact, the two spells did not interact nicely. They are both gone now." 

"Then why do I need this?" Skywalker asked, looking down at the bag. 

"Because there is nothing stopping the Sith Lord from casting the spell again," Red said, voice flat. "He is good. I am better." 

"Red," Qui-Gon said quietly. "Who is he?" 

Red shook his head. "I told you before, Jinn, do not ask me things I cannot tell you." He turned and shut the door on them all. 

= 

There was an attack on the Temple the next day. 

Qui-Gon stared at the assembled members of the Council through the comm. "What?" he asked. 

"Return to Coruscant," Mace said. "We need you, and Red, here." 

"No," Red growled. 

"The Temple was bombed," Mace said. "We're sending another team to rescue Jabba's son, but we need Red here, in the Temple." 

"Why the fuck--" 

"Maul was freed from the cells," Plo Koon said. 

Red swore viciously under his breath in Mando'a. The communications clones nearby gave him an appreciative look. They were all fools, him included. Sidious had retaliated in the best way he knew how. 

"Was Maul's freedom their only goal?" Qui-Gon asked. 

Red did not like the silence and the glances. He was immediately on alert, mind spinning, trying to think as the Council decided what to tell them. 

"No," Mace said. "Several of the items Red turned over from his ship are missing as well." 

"The ones I took from him," Red said. "The ones he left are the ones I obtained on my own." 

"So sure are you," Yoda said. 

"It's what I would do," Red muttered, looking away. 

"Return to Coruscant," Mace ordered. "We need you to investigate how the Temple was breached." 

Red shook his head and walked off the bridge as the Jedi kept talking. He already knew how the Temple had been breached. He knew exactly how Sidious had done what he had done because he had made the plan years ago. He just never thought the man would use it. 

And Coruscant? He had to go back there? Now? When he knew, without a doubt, that Sidious could still access his mind? And he had freed Maul. He wouldn't do that to kill the Zabrak, oh no, he'd fix Maul's legs. 

Red's power lay in the arcane but Sidious excelled in alchemy. Red chewed on his thumb, mind whirling as he paused in the hallway, shuffling off the side and leaning against the wall. Maul most likely already had a new set of legs and would likely be waiting for them to land. 

He needed to think like the enemy, not...whatever he was now. 

Funny. He had asked Rex, months ago, who he was and he still didn't have an answer. If anything, he was even more lost. Things were clearer, in a way, when he had been running. All you cared about was eating and sleeping and where your fuel was coming from. Now he had to deal with politics on top of everything else. He had Rex, though, and he had his clone brothers. That was a positive. 

"Red?" Skywalker asked. 

Red turned, frowning, not expecting the blond to come looking for him. Qui-Gon, Rex, or Cody--yes--but not Skywalker. "Yeah?" 

"Are you all right?" he asked. 

"What do you think?" Red said. 

Skywalker tried to smile but it fell flat. "No. I don't think you're okay. I'm not okay, either." 

"Go cry to Jinn about it," Red said. 

"He's trying to fight them on it," Skywalker said. "He wants to protect you." 

"He blames himself for what happened to me," Red said, noticing Skywalker's surprise. "You don't know the story, I take it?" Skywalker shook his head. "I was the oldest initiate in the creche at the time. Me and another boy, Bruck Chun, were always fighting. He was a bully and I hated that, usually let my temper get the best of me with him." 

"Bruck Chun?" Skywalker asked, frowning. "I don't know that name." 

Red grinned, wicked. "Oh, you wouldn't. He's long dead now. He got taken as a Padawan eventually, and he had his issues, but he ran into Verath not long after the Sith Lord unleashed me on the Galaxy to cause a little chaos. I have killed a lot of people, Skywalker, never doubt that, but Bruck? I will never deny enjoying that one." 

"W-what happened with Qui-Gon?" Skywalker asked. 

Red shrugged. "We fought, Bruck and I, and the Temple decided to throw me out. Yoda fought them to let Bruck and I fight for Jinn to decide if he was going to take either of us to be his Padawan. I won, but Jinn was dismissive, cold, cruel. I begged him, told him he was my last and only chance to be a Jedi, and he told me that it was better I not be one before walking away." 

Skywalker's mouth had dropped open in shock. 

Red shrugged. "I had my orders--go be a farmer. I couldn't do it, though. Why support an Order that let it's initiates be bullied, that believed might was right, that had Masters like Jinn? So I got on a different ship." Red shook his head. "Maybe if Jinn had said something else, had put it a different way? If Bruck hadn't done what he had? Maybe things would have turned out differently. But they didn't and here we are." 

"You're calling him Jinn, not Qui-Gon," Skywalker said. 

Red paused. He was, wasn't he? 

"You're not going to stay when we land, are you?" Skywalker asked. "Once we get near the _Irredeemable_ , you're going to grab it and go." 

Red tried to find the words. "Magic...is sometimes all about finding the right words, the right motions, the right herbs and crystals, but all about the will. Without the will there is nothing. It's all just things. I broke the spell on you because I wanted to, because you deserve to live free." 

"So do you," Skywalker pointed out. 

Red shook his head, looking away. "You don't understand. None of you do." 

"Have you tried to make any of us?" Skywalker asked. 

"What's the worst thing you've done?" Red asked, glaring at Skywalker. "The very worst?" 

Skywalker lowered his eyes. "Murdered an entire tribe of Tusken Raiders after they tortured my mother to death." 

Red nodded. "Have you told Jinn?" 

"No." 

"You should. It's going to eat you to pieces until you do," Red said. "The guilt of having done something in a rage, the memory of what they look like falling under your blade, their screams as they died." 

Skywalker flinched. "Stop." 

"Vaylara," Red whispered. 

Skywalker looked at him. "What?" 

"Outer Rim," Red said. "Small, moderately populated. No exports of note, not on any of the hyperspace lanes. A green planet, it sang in the Force. Beautiful forests, valleys full of flowers and life." 

"Red?" 

"Their ruler, I don't even know if I was told her name beyond 'Protectorate'," Red said. "I don't remember how many sentients were on that planet. My mind gets fuzzy on the details. I just know I was sent there to make a point." 

"Oh, Force, you--" 

"All of them," Red said, feeling detached from the conversation. "Crippled the ports in a day, wiped out the government, slaughtered every last breathing creature on Vaylara. I don't remember most of it, just the aftermath. Flowers drenched in blood, corpses everywhere, and me standing there screaming." 

Skywalker looked ill. 

"Thing is," Red said. "I don't know if that's the worst thing I've done or not. It's the worse thing I can _remember_ , but that doesn't mean the Sith Lord didn't use me some other way." 

"Red," someone whispered behind him. 

No. No, no, no. He couldn't deal with Qui-Gon Jinn right now, but that didn't stop him from turning and looking. 

Qui-Gon was pale with shock, and Rex… Cody… 

Red turned and ran. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* Sorry not sorry

He hid in the vents. 

Even after seven months with Jinn, he hadn't bulked up so much that he couldn't slink through a ship's vent system with ease. He had grabbed his goggles, a water kit, and a bunch of rations from his room, fully intent on staying in the vents until they landed on Coruscant, and found a spot that wasn't monitored by droids or sensors. 

Such lousy security on these destroyers. 

He slipped the goggles on and replayed the video from the market, watching Pythia over and over again, until he had her words memorized. He knew the others were looking for him but he didn't care; let them look, he wasn't fit for company right now. He had other things to worry about. 

Pythia was never wrong, as much as he would like her to be. She had warned him to run before it was too late, before he was drowning in the dead, and he had laughed at her. Vaylara had been a month later. 

She greeted him as Wrath--Verath--and said he would be Wrath again. 

He pulled the goggles off his face and looked down the ventilation shaft. If he was smart, he would do what Skywalker called him out on--find where the Jedi had stashed the _Irredeemable_ and run. 

He could still leave. He knew he could still leave. 

He felt his heart squeeze and buried his face in his knees. 

Liar. 

Look what seven months with the Jedi had done to him. No wonder they preached about non-attachment if this is what it got him. He didn't want to leave the clones--not Rex or Cody or Kix or the 212th or the 501st--they had sliced his skin open and buried themselves under the layers. He wouldn't be able to get rid of them, even if he burned them out. Even Jinn, Ahsoka, the other Jedi he had met? He wanted to keep them. 

All those jokes before about being claimed, adopted, and now he was the one not wanting to let go. 

But what if he became the threat that they needed guarding against? Would they, any of them be able to raise a weapon against him? Would they be able to take the shot to end him if they needed to? Could he ask Rex to do that? 

By all the gods, would a blaster to the head even work on him? He knew that the old Sith sorcerers were harder to kill, generally because they twisted the life energies around themselves, but him? Who knew what Sidious had done when he made him? 

He touched the tattoo on his face, tracing over the raised lines. He remembered the pain, the fear, how Sidious had looked so pleased, how Maul had helped him but looked ashamed. The Jedi had dug up his old records and he and Jinn had pieced together a rough timeline during the early weeks of his...tutelage. 

Red had spent eight months onboard the _Sundew_ with Captain Ramnel before a rival gang had taken her and her crew out. He'd run, found some Mid-Rim planet and a slicer, traded away his first time and a week on his back for a clean ident. He knew better, by then, that if anyone had found out he had been from the Temple? They'd have killed him, if only to make an example of him. He found work then, fourteen, on some bucket of bolts with an engine that worked when he prodded it, but then the Zygerrian slavers had boarded the ship, shot whoever resisted, and decided to sell the few of them that were of "decent stock." 

Fourteen, maybe fifteen? He didn't remember how long he'd been with that ship, or how long he'd been kept penned before the auction. But he remembered Sidious. Time lost meaning as Verath. 

Jango had found him and then spent thirteen years with the man, in one form or another, before the idiot had gotten himself killed. He had spent six years as a Sith, six years as Sidious's slave. Free from his chains at twenty-one. He couldn't go back to them now. 

He clutched at his head, stifling the scream that wanted to break free. He refused to give in to Sidious again. He wouldn't be Verath again. 

= 

"You seen Red?" Cody asked Rex on a private channel as the _Resolute_ landed. 

"No," Rex said. "No one has." 

Cody cursed. "I was hoping he'd at least go to you." 

Rex watched as platoons of the 501st lined up, formations perfect, and tried not to growl. "Brother, he's been hiding that from everyone. He's not looking for comfort. He's looking to run." 

Cody turned to look at him. "I really hate it when you're smart," he said. 

"Can't be the dumb one of the batch all the time," Rex said. 

"No, you had to be an ARC," Cody said. "That's enough _jaro_ for one brother." 

Rex was about to say something when he spotted Red and he nudged Cody. "Look," he said. "He came out of hiding." 

"That's a good sign," Cody said, a hint of relief in his voice. "If he was going to run he would have just left." 

Rex wasn't so sure about that but they watched as Red approached Jinn, Skywalker, and the young Togruta kid. The kid sidled up to Red, leaning against him, as the Generals spoke to him. Red looked tired, blank, but he was shaking his head as he wrapped an arm around Ahsoka's shoulders. Whatever was going on it didn't look...bad? 

"Go deal with the 212th," Rex said. "See you at the barracks later." 

"Dejarik later?" Cody asked. 

Rex snorted, "Get ready to lose." 

" _Nu draar_ ," Cody said, laughing as he walked off. 

Rex checked with his sergeants, letting them know what the schedule for leave was that he and General Skywalker had worked up, when they were expected to be back on duty, but otherwise dismissing them. They disembarked the _Resolute_ , doing him proud, until he turned and Red was there. 

"I owe you an apology," he said quietly, eyes downcast. Up-close he looked even worse--exhaustion was apparent, but his eyes were red-rimmed and he was starting to look scruffy around the chin. 

"You don't," Rex said. "I get it." 

"More from your books?" Red asked, looking up. 

"No," Rex said. He wasn't about to tell Red that he was starting to understand him--what ticks he had, how likely he would react to this or that situation, the standard analysis that most clones had thanks to the genetic tweaking and training the Kaminoians had given them. It was, maybe, more than usual because Rex watched Red more than most. 

Red was hesitating, glancing out toward the planet and then back at Rex. "When are you off-duty?" he asked finally. 

"Technically, I'm never off duty" Rex said, only to dodge Red's swat with a laugh. "But I'm sure the others will be more than happy to cover for me if you have something in mind." 

Red nodded. "Yeah, I. I want you to meet someone." 

"Meet someone?" Rex asked. 

"It's...important," Red said, his eyes distant. "Or, it will be." Red focused on him again with a shy smile. "We need to go deep in the lower levels of the city and it'd be a pain to try to get back up here. I figured we could make a night of it?" 

Rex took off his helmet and tried not to smile too widely. "Red, what are you planning?" 

Red leaned in, giving him a quick kiss. "You'll just have to show up to find out, Captain," he said. "Wear whatever you want, it doesn't matter where we're going, and who we're seeing won't care. I'll see you in a few hours?" 

Rex made sure his actions were obvious as he grabbed Red by his waist, pulling him in close for a proper kiss. He had missed the other fiercely and having him close went a long way to ease that ache. "A few hours sounds good," he said, pulling away. 

Red stared at him, slightly breathless, before grinning and walking away. He looked over his shoulder a couple of times, as if just to see if Rex was still there, before General Jinn gently led him into a gunship to carry them to the Temple. Rex watched the gunship fly off before seeing to the rest of his duties. Apparently he had a date tonight. 

= 

"Show us the footage from the attack?" Qui-Gon requested as he, Anakin, Red, and other members of the Council entered the communications room at the Temple. 

Red was quietly fussing with the robes and tunics Qui-Gon had all but shoved him into. Getting Red to dress like a normal Jedi was all about blending in; many knew about the deal he struck with the Council but it did no good to shove the fact in their faces. Besides, Qui-Gon admitted, his student actually looked quite good in the pale creams of the Jedi uniform. 

A droid brought up the footage and played it on multiple screens. Red stepped up and pointed, the sleeve of his robe catching on his fingers. 

"There," he said, shaking his hand free. "They got in there." 

Qui-Gon frowned and leaned in to look. "How did you see that?" 

Red toyed with his sleeve and shrugged. Qui-Gon gave the training bond a gentle tap in question. 

_Red?_

_He...has plans of the Temple_ , Red admitted and there was the hesitation, the shame. _I don't know how he got them. I told him how to breach the Temple, how to sneak in if he ever wanted to_. 

Qui-Gon clasped his hands behind his back, considering. _Could you show us what you showed him_? 

Red drew the robe around himself in an obvious attempt to hide but nodded. 

"Qui-Gon?" Mace asked as he brought up the Temple's schematics. 

"Patience," Yoda cautioned, ears dipping low as Red stepped up to the console and began typing. 

The Council began to murmur in distress and Anakin swore at each path in and out of the Temple was lit up. Qui-Gon was horrified as Red continued, isolating each in a different color and numbering them, showing at least fifteen different ways the Temple itself could be attacked without their notice. 

"There's others, probably," Red admitted, voice soft. "He posed it like a game. Find me a way in. These are the only ones I remember." 

"What did you win?" Depa Billaba asked, tucking her hands into her sleeves. 

Red's jaw clenched and he shook his head. Qui-Gon could feel the surge of memories and negative emotions in his student, but Red was doing an admirable job in setting them aside. "It was never about winning, only surviving. If there was anything to win then it was your right to keep breathing." 

Qui-Gon settled a hand on Red's shoulder, gentle and slow, and still the other flinched. Those memories were still too close to the surface. "We never did get anything from Maul, did we?" he asked Mace as he tugged Red a little closer. The redhead wavered for a moment before leaning into him, eyes closed. 

"No," Mace said, watching them with a frown. "He wouldn't reveal the identity of the Sith Lord, any of his plans, or any information. For the most part, he was silent." 

"Couldn't," Red corrected softly. "We cannot speak against him. There are ways around it, hints here and there, but outright truth? No. Besides, Maul's been with him for so long that at this point, unless Ma--" Red choked on his own words. "Unless the Sith Lord does something unforgivable, Maul will never betray him." 

Qui-Gon felt the bright flare of anger burn inside himself before he released it into the Force. "Master", Red had almost called the Sith Lord. There was still some part of him that could not break free of the hell he had been trapped in for those six years, and it was Qui-Gon's fault. His arrogance had created Xanatos and his grief and despair had placed the seed for Verath. 

_Stop it_ , Red said. 

Qui-Gon smiled and gave his student a tight, quick squeeze. _My apologies. I will stop feeling guilt over what was done to you when you stop feeling shame_. 

_Low blow_ , Red said, admiration coloring his mental words. 

"And you?" Yarael Poof asked. "Would you not also feel the same loyalty?" 

Red stiffened, turning to stare at Poof, and Qui-Gon sighed. They had been through this before, but still members of the Council questioned Red, doubting that he wanted true freedom. Yoda had pushed hard for Red to be trained as a Jedi, echoed by Mace and Qui-Gon and a few others. They saw the wisdom in having an ally in someone as powerful as Red, who was almost as neutral as one could get in this war, but they were pushing him now. Qui-Gon had been away from the Council chambers too long, only reading reports and joining them via holo for meetings that were absolutely necessary. What had changed? 

"Loyalty?" Red asked, pulling away from Qui-Gon. "Loyalty to what? I had no choice in the matter, no agency, no freedom. I did what I needed to do to survive, no matter the consequences, because that's what we do as humans. Humans will do anything to ensure their survival. I'd also like to remind the Council members that I am still a slave, legally owned property, and _he_ still could claim me in any court of law. He could have false documents drawn up to change the name of my owner, or even sell me without me being present to someone else and have them then go to court over me. He knows the Jedi have me." 

"The Jedi don't 'have' you," Anakin said. "You are not property, Red. None of us are. You freed yourself." 

"Aren't I?" Red asked, eyes sliding over to stare at him. "I'm not a person to anyone here, I'm just a powerful pawn in your game against the Sith." 

"Red," Anakin said, sounding pained. 

"The Jedi have an army of slaves," Red said. "The clones aren't free. They have no rights. They know it just as much as you refuse to acknowledge it. They fight for you anyway, love you anyway, because that's who they are. But a cage is still a cage, no matter how much you love it." 

"That is a Senate matter," Plo Koon said, sounding regretful even through his mask. "We have looked into it." 

Red's smile was vicious, sending cold shivers down Qui-Gon's spine. "And how is that going for you?" he drawled. 

"Enough," Yoda said, striking his gimer stick on the floor. "Asked about the attack, we did. Information we have." 

Red looked away, picking at a loose thread in his sleeve. 

_Red?_ Qui-Gon asked. _Are you all right_? 

_No._ Red sent, blunt and angry and hurt. There was so much hurt there that Qui-Gon felt tears prick his eyes. Red hadn't expected the attack from the Council. He hadn't expected friends, but this level of hostility was not something he had prepared himself for. 

_I'm so sorry_ , Qui-Gon offered. 

Red ignored him. 

"Plan for the next attack we must," Yoda continued. "The Temple he will not attack again." 

"Most likely not," Mace agreed. "The rescue of Jabba's son has gone well and we do have access to the Outer Rim hyperspace lanes now." 

"That is very good news," Qui-Gon said. 

Anakin looked unhappy, but Qui-Gon couldn't blame him. His other student had a very bad history with the Hutts and having the Jedi help them? It was a lot to swallow. He would be there for Anakin tonight, he decided, to help him work through any anger or upset he might have over this decision. 

_I have something to do later_ , Red sent, sounding hesitant. _I'm taking Rex with me and we won't be back until tomorrow_. 

Qui-Gon listened to the Council talk about next steps for security, planning for the war, and so on with half an ear. _Something?_

_Dinner with a friend I want Rex to meet._

_Will I meet this friend?_

_No. You don't need to. Rex does._

Qui-Gon had a suspicion over who it was but nodded. _Be safe?_

_I'm taking my blasters._

_With Rex_ , Qui-Gon clarified. _You need to shield your thoughts better_. 

Red's eyes widened and he flushed brightly. Qui-Gon smiled and, reaching over, raised the hood of the robe to cover Red's head for him. 

_I hate you_ , Red grumbled. 

_You're welcome_. 

= 

Rex stared as Red rushed over to him. 

"Sorry, sorry, I hate the blasted Council and want to set them all on fire," Red said, skidding to a stop in front of Rex. 

"Tunics," Rex managed, trying not to think of all the things he'd like to do to Red in, and out, of those tunics. Red looked like a proper Jedi and it really shouldn't have been as sexy as it was. 

"Hunh?" Red looked down and then rolled his eyes. "Qui-Gon made me. Something about not making the others panic and then I was running late and didn't have time to change." 

"You look good," Rex said, mouth a little dry. 

Red gave him a sly smile. "I'm glad you're enjoying them. Who we're seeing is going to harass me about them. C'mon, we're grabbing an airtaxi for this little jaunt." 

"Not a speeder?" Rex asked. 

Red shrugged. "It'd probably get stolen or used for parts. No point in chancing it." 

"You certainly know how to show a guy a good time," Rex said, falling into step as Red started walking. Red bit his lip, trying not to smile. What was he planning? "You look better. Less worn than earlier." 

Red nodded. "Qui-Gon. Some of it, the stuff that's going around in circles in my head? That's not going to change. Once he got his hands on me again and we were in the Temple he kept bleating on about self-care this and that and I don't know. I still need to try to understand what he's saying." 

"Self-care?" Rex asked. "Er, well." 

"Let me guess, your books?" Red asked, bumping their shoulders together. 

"It's mostly so you don't go to pieces when bad shit happens," Rex said. "What we do is probably different from the Jedi, but Kix actually is the one who started beating it into our heads early on. Almost literally, in some cases." 

"I like him," Red said, voice fond. "He takes no shit from anyone. I'll ask him about it later." 

"He'll be thrilled," Rex said. 

They found a taxi and boarded it, finding a seat and getting comfortable. Red was pressed close against his side, as if trying to soak up as much physical reassurance as possible, as they talked about nothing of importance. Boloball, apparently, was something Red didn't understand and Rex took great delight in trying to explain it to him. Rex couldn't tell if Red was humoring him or actually interested, but by the time they got off the taxi he was snickering. 

"You're ridiculous," Red said. "You have not dyed your hair blue." 

"Cody, unfortunately, has the holos," Rex said. 

"Then he has failed in his duty as your brother by not sharing them," Red said. "C'mon, he's this way." 

"No, Cody is wonderful for not sharing them," Rex corrected as he followed. "Haven't you ever been a fan of something, Red?" 

Red tossed a smile over his shoulder, "You?" 

Rex blinked, caught off guard. They came to a stop in front of a decent building in the middle of the slum and Red knocked, completely ignoring the door chime. They waited a few moments before the door swished open and-- 

"Boba, is the blaster really necessary?" Red asked. 

"What the kriff are you wearing?" Boba demanded, poking Red in the stomach with the blaster. He wasn't even paying attention to Rex and his armor, which Rex couldn't tell if that was an insult or not. 

"I told you about the deal the Jedi struck with me," Red said. 

"Didn't think you were serious," Boba said, an angry frown on his young face. "Didn't think you'd dress like them." 

"Survival," Red said. 

Boba let the blaster drop and then looked at Rex. "Which one is this?" 

Karking anklebiter. Rex had forgotten how much of a pain in the ass Boba was. 

"Boba," Red said, voice harsh. "Respect. This is Rex, my _cyare_." 

Rex hadn't expected to be claimed as such, not really, and it warmed him. "Hey, kid," he said. "Good to see you again." 

Boba twirled the blaster idly. "None of you had names before." 

"Jango, you blasted fool," Red growled low under his breath. 

Rex smirked at him. "Says who? No one bothered to ask. CT-7567." 

Boba nodded, "Right, okay. You pulled that stunt with the training sim, the one that broke it." 

"I broke a lot of sims," Rex said as Red made an exasperated noise. 

Boba grinned. "The one where you had to accept defeat or something like that. You broke it by winning something unwinnable." 

"They should have programmed it better," Rex said with a shrug and a spread of his hands. 

"As lovely as this is, this is making me remember that the Kaminoians are still creating more clones and still doing their ridiculous flash programming with their disgusting xenophobia," Red said. "And I'd like to not ruin dinner with talks of possible genocide." 

"I'd help," Boba said, letting them in. 

"No," Red said, flicking Boba's nose. The door swished closed behind them and Rex grinned and Boba stumbled back, squawking like any child would. "You are here to grow up and learn like any other child. You have teachers, you have friends, you are living a normal life. When you are sixteen you can do whatever you want. You are barely eleven. You have a long way to go." 

Boba glared at him. "There's other people who could take care of me." 

Red's smile was pure malice and Rex froze, but Boba oddly relaxed. "You tell that bitch Aurra Sing that if she even thinks about coming near you that they will never find her. I won't just kill her, I will find a way to make her suffer for it." 

Boba darted in and hugged Red around the waist. "Hondo says hi, by the way." 

"Stop talking to Hondo!" Red said, hugging Boba back. 

"Nope!" Boba said, going into the kitchen. "He's funny. Good stories about dad too." 

Rex shook his head and sat down on the couch he saw. This was not what he had expected, but he wasn't going to complain. Red huffed and sat next to him, muttering under his breath. 

"Aurra Sing?" 

"She wants Jango's money and thinks Boba's the best way to get it," Red said. "She wants him to go after Windu too." 

"Ponds would--" 

"Doesn't matter," Red said. "I can deal with one crazy woman who thinks she's going to hurt my family." 

"You're not allowed to call me _ad_ ," Boba said, carrying in a platter of food and setting it on the low table in front of the couch. "That would be creepy." 

"Boba," Red said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You have a kitchen table." 

"More comfortable here," Boba said, hands on his hips. "Shut up and eat where I tell you to. This is my home now." 

Red held up his hands and grinned. "All right. Feed us, then." 

Boba went back into the kitchen for more food. 

"His home?" Rex asked. 

"Jango had a lot of different bolt holes across the Galaxy," Red said quietly. "I told Boba to pick one and he picked Coruscant. I set up the teachers, the accounts he'd need to live, the protections if he needed them. He hates it, but I can't check in on him here so I have others who Jango trusted do it, and we...look out for him. Make sure he can live life as normally as possible." 

"And at sixteen?" 

" _Slave I_ is his, Jango's accounts are his, he can do what he wants," Red said. "He wants to destroy his life by chasing down Windu? We will all stand back and let him do it, it's his right. We'll have had five years to talk him out of it. If he wants to do as Jango did, bounty hunt, or go back to Mandalore? His choice. But everything is _his choice_." 

"Like it never was for you," Rex said, catching Red's hand. 

"For a lot of us," Red said. "The Galaxy is full of the cast offs of society, Rex, the ones who fell through the cracks." 

Boba set down the second plate of food, looking at them, and rolled his eyes. "So, what, you and dad never got together but a clone is okay?" 

Red turned and stared at Boba with wide eyes before grabbing a berry off one of the dishes and throwing it at the anklebiter. "Boba!" 

"What?!" Boba asked, dancing back. 

Rex grabbed Red before the other could get up, he didn't know, chase the annoying little anklebiter around the room or something. The redhead was fuming, bright splotches of color on his face, and he was still struggling against Rex's hold. 

"It was never like that and you know it!" 

"It could have been!" Boba said. "You just didn't let it!" 

Red stared, stunned. His mouth moved a couple times, but no sound came out. 

"Need help with plates?" Rex asked. 

"Sure," Boba sulked, going back into the kitchen. 

Rex kissed Red's cheek and followed. He watched Boba grab the plates, all of them set at kid-level instead of the cabinets that he wouldn't be able to reach for a couple of years, and flatware. 

"That wasn't nice," Rex said. 

"I always thought he just didn't like anyone like that," Boba said. "That he didn't do the bed stuff that other adults did. We'd visit him, sometimes, between jobs or during training and they'd always be real friendly. Comfortable. But dad always said that it was cuz Red had been hurt bad and you don't push people like that. That it wasn't honorable." 

Rex wondered what Boba meant by comfortable and friendly but those were questions for a different day. "It's not honorable to push someone like that," Rex agreed. "And Red has been hurt, I'm sure you've seen his scars." Boba nodded. "But he decided to take a chance on me." 

"Not trust?" Boba asked, grinning. 

"You know he hates that word," Rex said. 

"Yeah," Boba said, looking thoughtful. "He and dad got into a fight before he died because of it. Trust. Red asking him to trust him, dad asking why when Red didn't trust anyone. Something like that. It was over a comm and I wasn't supposed to hear it. I trust Red, though, to take care of me. He's family. Family looks after each other, no matter what. He's doing what dad would have wanted him to do." 

Rex ruffled Boba's hair. "Let's go eat." He took the plates as Boba nodded and took the flatware. 

Red was still on the couch, arms crossed, looking positively sour. Rex wanted to kiss him, ease the frown, make him laugh. Instead he set the plates down and helped Boba dish out the food. Red took his plate, glaring at Boba, who turned wide and innocent eyes on him. 

Shit. Rex should take notes. He didn't know if any of his brothers could pull that look off but by the gods, that was some masterful manipulation right there. Only it didn't seem to do more than make Red roll his eyes and dig into his food. Boba shrugged and sat down in a comfy looking chair that was definitely too big for him. 

"Why're you here?" Boba asked, shoving food in his mouth. "You hate this planet." 

"Jedi stupidity," Red said. "I don't know how long I'll be here, though, and I wanted you know Rex." 

"Because he's--" 

"No," Red said. "Because you need to start knowing the rest of your brothers. Just in case I'm not around." 

Rex forced himself to swallow the food in his mouth. What? Boba's eyes widened. 

"No!" Boba said, dropping the plate he was holding. 

"Listen to me," Red said, setting his plate down. "I'm not about to go do something stupid. I'm not leaving you. I made you a promise, Boba, and I'm going to do my best to keep it." 

Boba stood, the chair wobbling from the force. "Then why?" 

"Because Jango didn't make contingencies for you," Red said. "I am. It wasn't fair to you and I refuse to do the same. If, and this is a big if, something happens, I want you to know your brothers. You have more family, Boba." 

"We'd take care of you," Rex agreed, though he was trying not to think about any situation where he'd have to. "Either here or wherever you wanted to go." 

Boba sat down, looking lost. "Don't," he whispered. 

Red got up and knelt in front of Boba, taking his hands. "I can't promise that. All I can say is that I'm going to do my best." 

"This is because of the Jedi," Boba said. 

"No," Red said. "This is because of what happened before your dad saved me." 

Aw, hell. Rex set his own plate down, appetite gone. This was because of the Sith and his attack on the Temple. Red was worried about what would happen if the Sith turned his attention back to him. 

"Look at it this way, kid," Rex said. "Red's got all of us and the Jedi watching his back now. He didn't have that before. We can keep him safe." 

"Promise?" Boba asked, child-logic wanting someone to promise everything would be all right. 

"I promise I will do my best to keep Red safe," Rex said. "And I know every brother in the 501st and the 212th will vow the same." 

"Bunch of overgrown babysitters," Red said, smiling at Rex. 

"You love us," Rex grinned. 

"Yes," Red said with a shrug, startling both Boba and Rex. "Let's clean up this mess and get you some more food. Tell me about your studies, how is the fighting going? You were studying a new style, you said?" 

= 

Red was glad to escape Boba's home and the remains of dinner. Rex was giving him troubled looks every now and then and Boba looked like he wanted to either break everything in sight or cry. 

Why did he always have to destroy everything that mattered? 

Rex took his hands and squeezed. "Where to now?" he asked. 

Red touched the end of his braid, it having slid over his shoulder as he hugged Boba goodbye, and looked down the street. "There's a hotel down that way, I think. Though if you want to go back--" 

"No," Rex said, tugging him in close. "I want to spend time with you. The next time we ship out it'll probably be without the 212th, and who knows when we'll see each other again?" 

Red hadn't thought of that, to his own dismay. 

Rex cupped his face, kissing his forehead. "I want tonight with you." 

Red leaned into the touch, letting his eyes close. "Okay," he whispered. 

"Hotel?" Rex asked. 

Red nodded, pulling away reluctantly, and leading Rex through the twisty streets of the lower levels of Coruscant. It was nothing to get a room, though there were eyebrows over a supposed Jedi and a clone soldier getting a room for the night, but what did Red care? Let them talk. 

The room was simple, just a big bed and a desk, a holoscreen, and a fresher off to the side. Nothing special. Red didn't care because as soon as the door closed, Rex had pulled him in close and kissed him. Red pressed against him, arms around his neck, and gave himself over to the sensations. He loved kissing Rex, was addicted to the taste of the other man, the way their tongues knew how to move together perfectly. 

"Tell me what you want," Rex said. "I'm getting some mixed signals here, _cyare_." 

Red took a step back, holding Rex's hands, leading him to the bed. "Everything," he said, voice catching slightly. Rex stopped him, eyes wide, and Red leaned in to kiss him. "If you want to?" 

"Red, I want to," Rex said. "Do you?" 

Red bit his lip and ran a finger along the edge of Rex's pauldron. He didn't want to talk about the future he could feel creeping along his spine, the way he was starting to see things again--visions like he had when he was younger and fully open to the Force. He just wanted this, now. "Choice," he said slowly. "Consent. They haven't been mine for so long and when they were I didn't want to." 

"Red…" 

"I want to," he said. He wasn't looking at Rex, just at his armor, not wanting to see Rex's reaction. "I don't know what I'm doing, so you know. Most of the time it was…" Red broke off and shook his head. No. This wasn't the time for that. 

Rex reached up and cupped Red's chin, looking at him. "Tell me immediately if I do something you don't like." 

Red nodded. "Of course." 

Rex nodded and kissed him gently before stepping back to unsnap the armor. Red sat on the bed, wanting to help but knowing that he would probably just make it harder to get off. He was, however, watching and remembering what Rex was doing for next time. Next time he'd help Rex out of the armor. 

Red took off his boots as he waited, figuring that was probably easiest, and when he looked up Rex was standing before him in those ridiculous blacks. 

"I hate those things," Red said with a straight face. "You should take them off." 

Rex grinned. "You first," he said, nudging Red back on the bed and settling between his sprawled legs. "I'm going to peel you out of these tunics." 

Red snickered. "Have fun," he said. "I have no idea how it all goes on, so the morning is going to be very interesting." 

Rex kissed him and Red pulled him closer by the neck of his blacks. He felt hands on his waist, undoing--what did Jinn call it? Obi? Whatever. Rex was getting rid of it and Red was delighting in the way Rex was nibbling kisses along his jaw. Nudges and more kisses and Rex pulled the belt and tabards free. Red was laughing at Rex's frustrated look. 

"There are so many layers to this thing," Red agreed. 

"Adds to the appeal?" Rex guessed. "Or maybe it's trying to deter it." 

"Okay, both of us?" Red asked. "Because I am going crazy right now." 

Rex kissed him again and oh, oh, that was not playing fair! Red gasped, arching up as Rex cupped him through the loose pants, palm rubbing just right. Gods, how long since someone else had touched him? Since he had even touched himself? Red surged up and grabbed Rex, kissing him desperately. 

"Off, all clothes, now," he ordered. 

Rex smiled and nuzzles against his throat. "Whatever you say, _cyare_." 

Between the two of them, they got the overtunic and undertunic off painlessly, before working on Red's pants and tossing them aside carelessly. Red's fingers slid over Rex's body suit, trying to get it off, but it was as maddening as the armor would have been. He hissed curses as the blond laughed, showing him where the hidden clasps were, and they tossed the clothing to the ground. Red hummed in satisfaction, running his hands over Rex's chest and muscles, taking pleasure in the warmth and life of him against his hands as Rex pressed him back against the bed, between Red's spread legs. 

"Good?" Rex asked, rubbing a thumb under Red's right eye. 

Red looked at him, startled, but nodded. "Good." He shifted, liking the weight of Rex on top of him, how it was almost like a comfort, and kissed the scar he had on his chin. "We're still wearing clothes." 

"Not much," Rex pointed out, reaching down to snap the band of Red's underwear. Red snickered, burying his face against Rex's shoulder. Then Rex did something with his hips and Red gasped, biting Rex, and the other cursed and did it again. "Kriff, yeah, they need to go." 

Red soothed the bite with a kiss and a nuzzle, not sure why he had done that, but it had felt good. Rex pulled away, getting up off the bed and Red watched him, biting his lip. Rex went over to his armor first, for some reason, and Red started laughing as the other pulled out a small thing of lube. 

"Either you were hoping for something or you and your brothers get up to a lot more than I thought!" Red said. 

Rex winked and tossed it on the bed and pulled his underwear down, tossing it over to the rest of their discarded clothes. Red stopped laughing, captivated, and rolled onto his knees to scoot toward the edge of the bed. Rex helped him stand, holding his hand, and Red kissed him. 

"Hi," he said. 

"Hi," Rex said, trying not to smile. Red hesitated for a moment but Rex took his hands. "You don't have to." 

"I want to," Red said, pulling his hands away to push his underwear down and kick it away. "That's not why I'm hesitating." 

"Why?" Rex asked, reaching up to free Red's hair from the braid, running his fingers through it. 

Red kissed him, dragging his blunt nails down Rex's sides. "I know you don't care about scars, about what I look like, about all the shit that came before--but I do. I just wished, for a moment, that I could be better for you." Not the whole truth but a damned big part of it; he wanted to be better, less damaged, for Rex. 

"Red," Rex said, nuzzling his throat. "You are exactly what I want you to be." 

"Smooth," Red managed after a moment. "Very smooth." 

"I only speak the truth," Rex said. 

Red shook his head and kissed him, settling in Rex's lap as the other sat on the bed and tugged him forward. Kissing was fantastic and, for once, he was taller in this position. He grinned down at Rex, running his fingers over his scalp, dropping little kisses wherever he wanted. Rex's hands were wandering over his back before settling on his ass, kneading into the muscle that had Red arching. 

"How could anyone have ever hurt you?" Rex wondered softly. 

"Real easy," Red said, nuzzling him and kissing the arch of a cheek. "I was a mouthy, dumb kid." 

"Still mouthy," Rex said. 

"Mean," Red. 

"No, this is mean," Rex said, biting at Red's shoulder and his fingers moving between his cheeks to lightly press against his hole. Red's mind stuttered and blanked as he pressed into Rex, breath catching. He might have babbled something because he could feel Rex's chest rumbling against his but oh, it didn't matter. 

Rex kissed him, rolling them over and laying Red on the bed, stretching over him to grab the lube. Red arched against him, licking and kissing scars, listening to Rex curse at him as he fumbled. He didn't mind, liking the idea that he was making Rex lose that his calm, that it was fair that both of them be messes right now. His hands were fluttering over Rex's body--his back, his shoulders, his ass. 

He was going to have to shield so much harder from now on around Qui-Gon, otherwise the man was going to be dealing with a lot of images he didn't have a right now. 

"Red," Rex said, glancing at him. 

"I swear by all the gods, old and new, if you ask one more time I will--fuck, I don't know, but I will do something drastic," Red said, reaching down to take Rex in hand. The clone groaned, head dropping to Red's shoulder and he shuddered. Red grinned, stroking him slowly, trying to make it good. "What you are going to do, you wonderful man, is use that lube to open me up good. And then you are going to fuck me, and then when we're done? We're going to do it again, and again, because I want you to make sure I won't forget a single moment of this night." 

"Holy hell," Rex whispered, breathing heavy. 

Red turned his head and kissed Rex, "What're you waiting for?" 

"Back or front? What's more comfortable?" Rex asked. 

"Let me see you?" Red asked, nipping at Rex's bottom lip. "I need to see you." 

Rex nodded and there were lips and teeth on his throat and fingers and Red gave himself over to the sensation. He brought his hands to Rex's shoulders, anchoring himself with touch, and just felt. It was odd, to be treated so nicely, but it felt so good and he burned at Rex's touch--like a star about to go nova. 

"Let me hear you," Rex said, nipping his ear. "Don't hold it in, I want to hear you." 

"Sorry," Red whispered, not aware he'd been biting back the noises as Rex pulled his fingers free. He squirmed a little as Rex pulled his fingers free and licked his lips in anticipation. There was a gleam in Rex's eyes as they figured out the best position for keeping Red on his back and, oh that was an awful joke. 

He flopped a hand over his mouth, giggling helplessly, as Rex grinned. 

"What?" 

"Ready to aim?" 

Rex lost it, slumping over him and laughing helplessly against his chest. Red snickered and arched his hips in a silent demand, laughter and sex was officially has favorite combination. Rex nipped his chin. 

"You're a menace," he said, tugging at one of Red's legs as he began to push in. "Never change." 

"I can, oh. Promise to get worse?" Red groaned, squeezing his eyes closed. 

"You and Cody can make horrible jokes at everyone's expense," Rex said. "Jesse'll help." 

Red couldn't breathe, couldn't think, could only feel. He pulled Rex into a kiss, hands on the other's face, feeling every point they connected and couldn't decide if he was going to explode out of his skin or if he finally felt settled in it. When Rex started to move it was perfection, like a spell coming together for the first time, the way the Force would respond to him, primal. 

He could feel pressure building, not just inside him, but around them. His hands had found purchase on Rex's back, digging in, urging him on and Red knew Rex was saying something, telling him things but he couldn't hear him. He was too wrapped up in seeing Rex, all of him, the way he shone blue and green and white in the Force and Red just wanted to wrap himself in all those colors and never leave. 

The pressure pulled at him and he buried his face in Rex's neck, choking back the cry as he came, feeling Rex echo it back to him and something snapped but he didn't care. Rex was still there, still with him, and his body felt...fantastic. Energised and limp, like he could take on the world but like he wanted nothing more than a good nap. 

He protested softly as Rex pulled away but gathered him close. He curled up against him, pleased, hungering already for more. 

"Holy shit," Rex said, sitting up just a bit. 

"Hmm?" Red asked, not wanting to be moved and biting at Rex's chest for the affront. 

"Uh, Red?" Rex said, clearly laughing, nudging him into rolling over. "I think you broke something." 

Red huffed and moved, and froze. "Broke something" might have been an understatement. The desk and holoscreen were utterly destroyed. "Uh?" he offered stupidly. 

"I'm really glad we didn't do this onboard the _Resolute_ now," Rex said, pulling Red against his chest and kissing his shoulders. "If you react to orgasms by smashing things to pieces? We're going to need to make sure we--" 

"Nope," Red said, turning in his arms, grinning. "Means we need to train the habit out of me. Lots and lots of practice." 

"Oh?" Rex said with an arched brow. 

"So much practice," Red said, kissing him. "Because I refuse to only have sex when we're on a fucking planet. I'm sure you don't mind...sacrifice yourself to the cause?" 

Rex smirked at him, hand grabbing at Red's ass and making him gasp. "I love practicing. Want me to show you how much?" 

Red's breath caught, feeling flesh twitch and flushing furiously. "Show me everything." 

"You only ever have to ask, _cyare_ ," Rex said, brushing Red's hair back and kissing him. 

= 

Red was sad to see Rex go that morning but they both had duties. Qui-Gon was already trying to get his attention and Red was happily ignoring the older man. He had plans for when he got back to the Temple--namely getting back into normal clothes. He really hated these Jedi clothes; they itched! Didn't the Jedi know about regular fabrics? Ones that weren't itchy and annoying? 

He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and that was his fault, but he didn't expect to see the Chancellor at the Temple. He certainly didn't expect the man to greet him at the Temple landing platform as the airtaxi dropped him off. 

"Ah, Red, isn't it?" the man said, a pleased smile on his face. 

Red went cold, staring at him. No. Oh no, please no. 

_Qui-Gon!_ He shouted down the training bond, only to find it blocked. 

"How," he whispered, after a moment. 

"I've been very interested in making your acquaintance," the Chancellor said, that damnable smile on his face. "Such a talented young man. A former Sith being accepted by the Jedi, after all, one doesn't hear that happen every day." 

"No," he said, trying to move away, but he couldn't. His body was rooted to the spot. 

"Say, I have an idea! Why don't you come back to the Senate with me and have breakfast with me? We can discuss everything you might have told the Jedi about your former life." 

Red clenched his jaw tight, biting back the words he could feel Sidious compelling him to speak. No, no, no! He did not want this! He started to shake with the exertion of fighting and the Chancellor's smile began to fade. 

"Get in the speeder," the Chancellor ordered, voice icy, fingers twitching by his side. 

The left side of Red's face--his tattoo--erupted into fire and he gasped in pain. No! He didn't want to go with him! He was free! But his body was moving without his input--sketching a bow to the Chancellor and climbing into the speeder--as his mind screamed in denial. 

The Chancellor had a driver who took off the moment the Chancellor was in the speeder. The compulsion held as they walked through the Senate, greeting Senators and other Jedi who were there on GAR business, but the moment they were in Sidious's office the mask dropped. 

"How fortunate," he said, grabbing Red's face in one hand. His hands were still so cold. "I had hoped the attack would make the Jedi bring you to Coruscant but did not know for sure. It is impossible, these days, to see your future." 

Red held still, knowing better than to respond. This was not the time to speak. 

Sidious sneered. "And so, my Verath, you thought you could escape me. You should have known better. What do you have to say for yourself?" 

Red hesitated for a moment before sliding to his knees and bowing his head, hating every moment of it. He couldn't reach Qui-Gon and the Jedi wouldn't know to look for him for who knew how long. He needed to survive. 

"Mercy, Master," he whispered. "I ask for mercy." 

"And why should I grant you mercy?" Sidious demanded. "That is what Jedi grant, not Sith." 

"I was your most loyal apprentice," Red said instantly. "I did whatever you asked, whenever you asked without question or fail. I have learned anything you asked me to. I am your greatest asset." 

"You have been replaced," Sidious said. 

"By who?" Red asked. "Dooku? Ventress? Neither of them serve you like I did." 

Sidious grabbed his face and and dug his fingers in. "Yes, my apprentice. Did. You do not serve me any longer. Tell me why I should not just kill you?" 

Red gasped, feeling the Force lightning ripple over his skin and reminded himself not to fight back. He couldn't fight back. He had to survive. He had to live. "What do you want, my Master?" he asked instead. "I will do whatever you want me to do." 

Sidious let go of him and regarded him with cold, yellow eyes. "You are right about Dooku and Ventress, my dear apprentice. They are not near enough to your level. I have given Maul back his legs but it will take him time to learn to be as effective as he once was. I am unsure of your commitment and resolve, especially since you have deprived me of Skywalker. For that, you will need...special attention." 

Red nodded. "Yes, Master. I welcome your instruction." 

Sidious smiled kindly at him. "Of course you do. Sly Moore, take Verath to my private residences so we can begin his rehabilitation." 

Red closed his eyes as he felt a strong, female hand grab his arm and lead him away. He was so beyond fucked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a used:
> 
> Jaro - death wish
> 
> Nu draar - Not on your life
> 
> Cyare - beloved
> 
> Ad - son


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love all of you. :) You rock my silly world. So, this part is complete now. I shall be working on the next one shortly. 
> 
> Also? I do promise a happy ending. I love them. They make my heart soar~

"Where is he?" Anakin asked, watching from the couch as Qui-Gon pace the length of his quarters. "I know you said he was going somewhere last night but it's nearly midday. Shouldn't he be back by now?" 

"He's not responding to the training bond and he refuses to carry a comm," Qui-Gon sighed. "Or, more accurately, he loses them and utterly forgets he has them. It became useless to issue him one and the bond became the easiest way to communicate with him if he wasn't nearby." 

Anakin tried to smile. "Qui-Gon, we need to find him." 

"Anakin?" 

"I know he can't say anything about the Sith Lord but I want to know if he can confirm the identity," Anakin said, voice quiet. "I've been thinking about what he said, before. That I have spent a large amount of time with the Sith Lord. Qui-Gon, there's only one person outside the Order I spend time with. Well, two, but I really doubt Padme is a Sith." 

Qui-Gon fingered the bridge of his nose and walked to the comm, calling up the barracks. "Cody," he greeted when the commander answered. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" 

"Of course, General. What do you need?" 

"Has Rex returned?" 

Cody looked surprised, which did not bode well. "Yes, sir. Early this morning." 

"Thank you," Qui-Gon said. 

"Is Red all right?" Cody asked. 

Qui-Gon smiled; Cody was a good man, sharp, and an excellent friend to everyone involved. "I will let you know when we find him." 

"Right, sir," Cody said, nodding. "Should I ask around, see if anyone's seen him?" 

"If it wouldn't be a bother," Qui-Gon said. "I know many of you are resting. It wouldn't do to panic anyone unnecessarily. You know how he can be." 

Cody chuckled. "Of course, General. I'll keep that in mind." 

Qui-Gon thanked him and ended the comm. Anakin was watching him, suspicious. 

"The Chancellor was here this morning for an early Council meeting," Qui-Gon explained as Anakin's eyes widened. "If what you suspect is correct and Red is actually missing, not just off wandering somewhere?" 

"We have holorecorders set up on every entrance of the Temple," Anakin said. "Cin Drallig would be able to give us access." 

Qui-Gon closed his eyes, reaching down the training bond, examining it instead of just trying to contact Red. It was blocked, but not by either of them. He was familiar with the ways Red blocked the bond, usually by "doors" or methods that would give him privacy but left it a way to be reopened at a later point. This block felt like someone had shoved a durasteel plate in the middle of it and ray-shielded it. Qui-Gon couldn't touch the block, and he doubted Red could either. 

"You get Drallig, I need to alert Mace and Yoda," Qui-Gon told Anakin. "Comm me, tell us where to meet the two of you." 

"Qui-Gon, do you think I'm right?" Anakin asked. 

"I don't know," Qui-Gon said. "I hope not but we will not know until we see what happened." 

They both left the room and parted ways, Qui-Gon to the meditation room where he could feel both of the beings he sought. He politely knocked with the Force, not wanting to disturb them if they were in the middle of something sensitive, and waited until Yoda bid him to enter. 

"Qui-Gon," Mace said with a frown. "You are agitated." 

"Release your anxieties, you must," Yoda instructed. 

"If only I could," Qui-Gon said with a bow. "Red is missing." 

"Missing?" Mace said, startled. "Explain." 

"He has a friend on Coruscant and I gave him permission to go see them last night. He said he would be back this morning but never arrived. When I try to reach him through the training bond, I find it blocked by outside means," Qui-Gon said, refusing to bring Red and Captain Rex's relationship into this yet. "Anakin has a suspicion over who the Sith Lord might be, based on what Red said to him, and considering the timing of Red's disappearance, I am assuming the worst." 

Mace and Yoda looked at each other. 

"Anakin is currently contacting Cin Drallig so that we may go over the security recordings," Qui-Gon added. 

"And if he has merely decided to run?" Mace asked. 

"I doubt he would," Qui-Gon said carefully. "Where a Jedi seeks to be beyond attachment, Red's attachments anchor him. Whether it is because of his nature or his prior experiences, he desperately needs them. He would not abandon those he has connected with lightly." 

"Right, he is," Yoda said. The old master shuffled off his meditation pad and onto his hoverchair. "Come, the recordings we must see." 

Mace stood, looking concerned, as they matched their pace to Yoda's chair. "I do not like this," he said. "It feels as if the entirety of the Force is altering around us, shatterpoints coming and going as if even the Force doesn't know what is happening." 

"Is that what you were meditating on?" Qui-Gon asked. 

Mace nodded. "The Force has been calm for so long, consistent and flowing, but lately it has been churning unpredictably." 

"Master Drallig," Yoda greeted. 

"Council members," the battlemaster said, bowing. "Knight Skywalker has explained the situation. We possibly have a missing person?" 

"Indeed," Yoda said, voice grave. "Find him, you can." 

"We've just loaded all the footage from this morning," Drallig said. "We weren't sure of the hours, or which entrance he'd use, so there is quite a lot." 

"There are many of us," Qui-Gon said with a smile. "We will all search the footage." 

Drallig nodded and the Jedi spread out, watching the footage at an enhanced rate. Qui-Gon didn't know what he wanted more--to find Red had just wandered off somewhere or that he really was in trouble. 

"Qui-Gon," Mace called after a while. "I found him." 

Qui-Gon, Anakin, Yoda, and Drallig joined Mace at his screen. Red was just stepping off an airtaxi, early that morning, at one of the central landing platforms. He looked fine, uninjured, and like he couldn't figure out how to put the tunics back on properly. 

Qui-Gon smiled. "He wasn't listening yesterday," he said. 

"I'm surprised he's still wearing them," Anakin said. "Though he might not have had a change of clothes." Silence and then, "Oh no. I want to be wrong." 

They watched as the Chancellor approached Red and Red froze. The tension in his body and his face was screaming pure terror. 

"Is there any way to see what they're saying?" Mace asked, looking at Drallig. 

"Not from these cameras," Drallig admitted. "But we have a good angle and I know how to read lips." 

"What is the Chancellor saying?" Mace asked, face blank. 

"Red, isn't it?" Drallig said. "Then Red is asking 'How'. The Chancellor goes on to say 'I've been interested in making your acquaintance. Such a talented young man. A former Sith being accepted by the Jedi, one doesn't hear that happen every day.'" 

"He's taunting him," Anakin said, eyes wide as he looked at Qui-Gon. 

"Looks like Red says 'No' here, but he's trying to move so I can't say for sure. The Chancellor has an idea, he says. Why don't you come back to the Senate and have breakfast with me? We can discuss everything you might have told the Jedi about your former life. Then he tells him to get in the speeder." 

They watched as Red did get in the speeder and they flew off. 

"The way he's moving is wrong," Qui-Gon said, rewinding the security recording to those last few seconds. "Watch how Red walks here, like someone else is making him move. Red is more fluid, balanced. He barely makes noise when he walks because he's used to sneaking around and he walks a particular way because of that. This? This is heavy, forceful, like a march." 

"He's right," Anakin said. 

"I've seen Red fight," Drallig said. "That man is vicious and knows how to use his body. The least amount of effort for the greatest amount of force. Micah would probably fight me over who'd get to teach him 'saber techniques." 

"Master Giett is currently on assignment," Mace pointed out. "And from these recordings, we have a bigger problem than who is going to instruct our former Initiate." 

  
"We have no proof," Qui-Gon said slowly, realization dawning. "Aside from the fact it is the Order's mandate to fight the Sith, the Republic would not look kindly on us for it. They'd see it as religious persecution." 

"Balls," Mace muttered, covering his face with his hand. "You're right. We have to wait for him to actively do harm." 

"What about Red?" Anakin asked, looking between them. "We need to help him!" 

Mace shook his head, "Skywalker, we can't. He said it himself yesterday. He is legally owned property, of the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. Even if we knew where he was at this point, and we tried to rescue him…" 

"Precarious our situation has become," Yoda said, ears drooping. 

Qui-Gon felt helpless and he hated it, as much as he knew Anakin did. "If you will excuse us, Masters?" he asked. 

"I'll stay," Drallig said. "We need to speak about security, if we are indeed speaking about the Chancellor being the Sith Lord." 

"I believe we are," Mace said with a grim look. "And we should prepare for him to have two apprentices at this point--Maul and, and Verath." 

Qui-Gon grit his teeth and bowed, seeing Anakin do the same, before leaving. 

"We can't--" 

"Not here," Qui-Gon said. 

Anakin let out a shaky breath and nodded. 

"Call Captain Rex, tell him to bring Cody, and meet us in my quarters," Qui-Gon said. 

"Where are you going?" Anakin asked. 

"Stacking the deck," Qui-Gon said, waving Anakin off. 

He strode through the hallways, searching in the Force for the Knight he was looking for, hoping that he was still in the Temple. There, yes. Qui-Gon approached the Room of a Thousand Fountains and tapped politely at the other's shields in question. He received a reluctant greeting and a location and he headed there. 

Feemor studied him as Qui-Gon sat in front on him, wary. "To what do I owe the honor, my famous Master?" 

"Feemor," Qui-Gon said. "I thought we were making better progress than this." 

"Were we?" Feemor asked blandly. "What does it matter anyway? What do you want?" 

"Your help." 

"My help?" Feemor asked, eyebrows raised. "With what?" 

"The whole Temple knows about Red--" 

"Obi-Wan," Feemor said quietly. "His name is Obi-Wan." 

"He prefers to go by Red," Qui-Gon said. "I respect that." 

"His friends, the ones who he left behind here, would argue that," Feemor said. "You should make sure he talks to them." 

Qui-Gon blinked at Feemor. He...hadn't thought of that. He would bet credits that Red hadn't either. "That is besides the point now, unfortunately, and what I need your help with." 

"What do you mean?" Feemor asked. 

"His Master has reclaimed him," Qui-Gon said quietly. One never knew who was listening these days. If the Sith could infiltrate the Temple, perhaps he had left listening devices as well? Something to bring up with Mace and Yoda later. 

Feemor's eyes widened. "Qui-Gon, that's horrible." 

"You and Tahl always had your heads together in the Archive," Qui-Gon said. "I know she's off doing something secret that she won't tell me about. Actually, her last message to me was quite rude." 

"Imagine that," Feemor grinned. 

"I need your help to figure out if there's anything we can do, any steps we can take--non-lethal--to combat a Sith sorcerer," Qui-Gon said. He was trying to think about everything Red had ever said about his time before. "I will share with you everything I know, everything Red has told me, but I need you to help me save him." 

"You think he's going to turn again," Feemor said. 

"I want him to do whatever he needs to do to survive," Qui-Gon. "And if that means becoming a Sith to survive one? Yes. But that doesn't mean he should die for it. We know him now, know that his choices have been taken from him, and they started in this Temple. You know those Archives, Feemor, you might even find a way to take out the Sith Lord for us." 

"Who are you and what have you done with Qui-Gon Jinn?" Feemor asked, staring at him. 

Qui-Gon chuckled. "I had a very annoying student take me to the far reaches of the Galaxy and show me exactly how the Jedi have been failing. It made me realize a lot of things. I know I tried to make amends with you before and you were kind enough to humor me, but I'm serious this time. Please be, too. We are entering a time of true evil and I do not want to lose you." 

Feemor was still staring at him but he sighed and held out his hand. "I'll do my best, Master. I can't promise anything, but I'll see what I can find. I am going to tell Tahl, so prepare for a bitchy comm, and most likely Master Nu." Qui-Gon winced. "Yes, well, you want information you're going to need the best working on it. We'll do our best to find a non-lethal means of restraining him, but you're going to have to face up to the idea that there might only be one way to deal with him." 

"I'm aware," Qui-Gon said, gripping Feemor's hand tight. "Thank you." 

"Don't thank me yet," Feemor said. 

= 

"You know what this is about?" Rex asked Cody as they wandered the halls of the Temple. 

Cody was quiet for a moment before sighing. "I got an idea, and you're not going to like it." 

Rex stopped walking, nudging Cody off to the side. "Tell me. Don't let me get blindsided by the Generals." 

Cody pulled off his helmet and waited until Rex had done the same. His brother wasn't looking at him, but was rubbing at his scar and sighing. "General Jinn commed me earlier today, around midday, to ask if you were back yet. Seems like they couldn't find Red." 

Rex felt his stomach clench. "That's why the 212th is running patrols." 

Cody nodded. "Volunteer only and they're keeping quiet. No one's seen anything so far." 

All he could think about was that conversation last night at Boba's, Red wanting Boba to be safe because the Sith Lord was after him. "Aw kriff," he whispered. "I should have come back here with him. Made sure he was fine." 

"Why?" Cody asked, looking at him. 

"Red thinks the Sith is after him," Rex said. 

Cody cursed and slapped his bucket back on. "Well that's just great." 

Rex grit his teeth and pulled his own helmet on, following his brother to General Jinn's quarters. Red better be all right. After everything that had happened, the other man deserved some damned peace. And he didn't think he'd forgive himself if it happened because he'd taken his damned eyes off the man in the first place. 

"Hey," General Skywalker greeted them at the door with a tired smile. "At ease." 

There was a bottle of whiskey on the table, something Skywalker didn't drink very often, and General Jinn was slouched in his seat and wasn't looking up from his glass. 

Cody and Rex looked at each other and took their helmets off again. 

"Sir?" Rex asked. "What's this about?" 

"Have a seat," Skywalker said, pouring them both glasses before sprawling in a chair. "We have some things to discuss." 

Cody swore, sitting down and picking up the glass. "Red's gone, isn't he?" 

"Yes," General Jinn said, picking up his glass and emptying it. "The Sith has him as of this morning." 

Rex closed his eyes and sat in the other seat, not sure he wanted to drink. Cody, though, was upending the glass in one go. 

"We are shipping out earlier than expected," Skywalker added. 

"We're not looking for him?" Rex asked, turning to stare at his General. 

"We can't," Jinn said, glaring at his glass. "We can't even confront the Sith." 

"The Council is making plans on what to do with the information," Skywalker said. "We know who the Sith Lord is now, not that it does us much good, because it's all so much more complicated." 

"No, we cannot tell you who," Jinn said. He smiled at Rex. "I know how much this hurts, but you need to trust us. We're not going to let anything happen to Red." 

"Sir," Cody said. "You know what going to happen, what the Sith is going to do to him." 

"Yes," Jinn said, pouring more whiskey into his and Cody's glasses. "He's going to break him. We are going to see Red become Verath. Red will give the Sith what he wants because Red knows how to survive. When the Sith Lord is brought down, we will be ready to contain Verath so that we can undo the damage that was done." 

Rex grabbed his drink and swallowed half of it down. Anakin was playing with his, not drinking, just looking at it. 

"The Council going to let you do this?" Rex asked, voice rough from the alcohol. 

"Fuck the Council," Anakin said harshly. "They don't even want to try to save him." 

"Politics," Jinn agreed. "The Order would be destroyed if we attempted to go against him, in any capacity." 

"What do you need from us?" Cody asked. 

"Keep everyone calm," Jinn said. "Your brothers aren't going to be happy." 

Oh, kark. Kix was going to want to murder everything on sight. Rex reached for the alcohol again. 

"Understatement," Cody said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Should we tell them the truth?" Rex asked. "That Red was kidnapped?" 

"That's up to you," Anakin said. "If you think they can handle it, go for it. I don't know what the Council is going to tell the Order--" 

"If they're going to tell the Order," Jinn said. 

"You don't honestly think they're going to play it that badly, do you?" Anakin asked, eyes wide. 

"To save face?" Jinn asked, examining the ice in his glass. "Red, a Sith agent, infiltrated the Order to better understand us to report back to his Master. When he had learned everything he could, he returned to the Sith. End of story. Nice, neat little box." 

Rex felt sick. "Anyone who knew him would know better," he said. 

"But there are many, many Jedi who do not know him," Jinn said. "And they would believe it without question." 

Anakin picked up his glass and drank, setting it down with a face. "I hate whiskey. I hate this whole mess." 

"We have to be able to do something," Cody said. 

"I'm working on it," Jinn said. "We have to be prepared that once the Sith Lord is assured that Verath is under his control again that he will send him out to fight us." 

Rex picked up his glass and drained it. He would do his duty to the Republic and his Jedi, but he didn't think he could fight Red without carving out his own heart. 

"That would mean an instant kill order from the Council," Jinn continued. 

Cody made a sound of protest but said nothing. 

"However," Jinn said. "There must be something buried in the Archives about a non-lethal way to take out a Sith sorcerer. I asked a friend to look into it for me. It has been a very long time since the Order has faced a sorcerer, especially one of Red's caliber, and anything that results in us being able to trap and subdue him is in our best interest. And his." 

"Feemor?" Anakin asked. 

"Who is also asking Tahl and Master Nu," Jinn said. "If it exists, they will find it." 

"Wizard," Anakin said with a small smile. "We have some hope." 

"You think we can?" Cody asked. 

Rex looked at the glass of alcohol. "Would we be able to bring a non-com with us when we leave?" 

Three sets of eyes looked at him. 

"Who?" Jinn asked. 

Rex looked at Cody. "Anklebiter." 

Cody's eyes widened. "What?" 

"Red's got him stashed here. Nice set up." 

"Rex," Jinn said, voice sharp. 

"Red thought the Sith was after him," Rex said. "Last night he took me to see Boba. Said that if anything happened to him, he wanted Boba to know he had his brothers looking out for him. Sir, I'd say that this classifies as something happening." 

Jinn rubbed his chin, looking tired. "A Republic cruiser is no place for a child. I'm against Ahsoka coming along, but she and Anakin have bonded well." 

"Yeah, sorry, Rex. I, uh, seem to have a Padawan now?" Anakin said, looking embarrassed. 

"I'm not babysitting," Rex said. Especially if he was going to be looking after Boba. 

"We can't move him into the Temple," Cody said. "That'd be asking for trouble." 

"If Red really does go Darkside," Rex said, "he wouldn't want Boba caught up in that. He'd want him safe." 

"We could leave a few brothers from the 212th and the 501st here?" Cody suggested. "Let them keep an eye on him?" 

"You think our brothers would go for that?" Rex asked, eyebrow arched. "I can think of absolutely none who would offer to stay behind." 

"Even if it was for Red?" Cody asked with a grin. 

Fair point. 

"Boba's a Fett, Qui-Gon. I'm sure Jango trained him to take care of himself," Anakin said. "It would be easier to take him with us. The Sith couldn't use him as leverage, he'd be with his brothers, and we can keep an eye on him." 

"And if Verath wants him, it would also direct his rage to us," Jinn said softly. "All right. Make sure that Boba is all right with it first. I will not condone forcing him against his will." 

"What's our time frame, sir?" Cody asked. 

"Two days, hopefully," Jinn said. "The _Maverick_ will be ready at the same time as the _Resolute_ and we will make sure to be deployed to the same location with the rest of the Third Systems Army." 

Rex nodded. That was enough time to try to arrange everything. He just hoped Boba would cooperate. 

= 

"You are behaving very well," Sidious praised, cupping Red's chin, forcing him to look up from where he was sprawled on the cold floor. "You remembered the rules." 

"Yes, Master," he stuttered out, shivering. 

He'd been stripped when Sly Moore had taken him to Sidious's private residence--honestly, more like his own private playroom--thrown him in a cell that was shielded from the outside, and hosed him down. He was freezing, barely able to feel his extremities, but he knew this method of torture. He remembered it from before. He could resist it. 

He was better than this. 

"Hm," Sidious said, considering him. "You're right. You can resist this." 

Red looked away but did not move his head. He needed to guard his thoughts better. 

"I wonder if you will ever properly submit to me again," Sidious said. "I sense much defiance in you now, my apprentice. That will never do." 

"Yes, Master," he said. 

"You shy away from the Force," Sidious said. "Unacceptable." He rose to his feet and left the room, before reappearing several moments later with a cage full of twisted creatures, alchemic monsters that happened to be Sidious's forte. Red stared at them, eyes wide. "Sithspawn, my dear Verath. These three happen to have once been Wookies. You will defeat them with the Force. Or you will die." 

Sidious waved his hand, opening the cage and freeing the Wookie Sithspawn, and closed the door. 

Red scrambled to his feet and pressed up against the wall. Oh fuck. This was not good, not good at all. He was going to die here, die alone, with no one to know where he was, and that was-- 

No. 

No, he was going to survive. 

Survive. He needed to survive. That's all there was to it. Survival. 

Him, or them. 

It was always going to be him or someone else. Hadn't it started that way, so long ago? Him, or Maul? He reached out, grabbing at the shadows he could feel whispering to him, pulling them around him. The first Sithspawn charged him and he spun, letting the shadows fill his lungs. The 'spawn would not touch him. 

Survive. 

He felt giddy as another howled and went after him, vibroblades at the ready. He felt energized, like he had swallowed a supernova and it was exploding inside him, under his skin. He giggled, clapping a hand over his mouth, but the giggle burst through him. 

Survive. 

The 'spawn were confused, shaking their heads, looking around. Shadows had filled the room, eager to be used, eager to see what he would do. So many shadows, all of them his. Sweet shadows. He had missed them. He held out his hand and they twined around his fingers, seeking his affections like hungry tookas. 

Survive. 

He was shaking, but not from cold, not anymore. He didn't feel cold, or scared. He felt... _hungry_. He looked at the 'spawn and tilted his head to the side. 

"Who made you?" he asked, voice soft. 

Soft howls answered him, mournful. Not Sidious; Plagueis. He stepped forward and touched each Wookie between the eyes, not even needing to speak the words as he unmade them. It was not a kindness as their souls shrieked in agony and he pulled power from their deaths. They would not cross into whatever afterlife their species cared to imagine. They would never again be anything more than energy, and it was his now. 

And he wanted more. 

Survive. 

He turned to the door, bolted and barred and--In. His. Way. 

He drew the shadows around his body, conjuring them into clothes and boots, and gathered energy around his hands before he slammed it out. The door and the majority of the wall vanished in an explosion. He cracked his neck and stretched his arms out in front of him, enjoying the way the muscles moved under his skin. He examined his fingers, the way the bones and ligaments moved, and smiled. So deceptive in their fragility. 

Survive. 

He let out a deep sigh and stepped out of the room, baring his teeth in a silent snarl as servants came to see what the noise was. They drew back in fear, letting him pass, and he smiled. Good. Fear him. They lived based on his whim, they served him, and they would do well to remember it. And if any forgot? Well. He would make sure it was a lesson they would not soon forget. 

"Welcome back, brother," Maul said. 

He turned to see the Zabrak leaning against a wall, eating an apple. Maul was smiling and had new, shiny cybernetic legs fused directly into the flesh where he had severed them before. He drew close, silent, and trailed curious fingers over the attachments. He felt nothing from them, dead metal, uninteresting, not thrumming with life-energy. The flesh above it, however… He brushed the shortened, loose pants Maul was wearing, curious, wanting to _see_. 

"Master wants to see his work," Maul said, smile vanishing. 

He didn't care about Sidious. He flattened his hand on Maul's thigh. He could feel Maul's heart rate tick faster, his blood begin to pound. Did his brother fear him? He was right to. There would be no allies in this new world of his, only tools to be used and discarded. 

"Master cut out your tongue?" Maul asked, growing angry. "What happened to that smart mouth?" 

He smiled and tapped Maul's cheek twice. "Stay out of my way," he purred. "Maybe I'll let you live." 

Maul stared. "Verath?" 

He hummed and continued on his way, trailing his fingers across Maul's face as he walked away. He examined his own mind as he walked, spotting the bonds he had. One to the Jedi, blocked by Sidious, and he let that stay. Maybe it would be of use to him later. The one to Sidious, however, was a little too...insidious. Heh. He forced it back to its proper spot in his mind, well outside his shields, and slammed them down. 

He spun them of shadows and spite, fire and death, the screams of the fallen, the blood of Vaylara. He cocooned himself in hate, in ambition, in darkness. 

Survive. 

He felt numb to the world around him, apart from everything he could see and touch and smell, but he hungered for so much. He wanted more than anything to have… No. 

Not yet. 

In time. 

He would sate his hunger soon. 

He had something to do first. 

Sidious was in his office, writing in a journal, when he pushed the door open. The old, aging man with white hair and yellow eyes that hid such sad blue human eyes looked up. 

"Master," he murmured. He strode into the room and stood in the middle, refusing to kneel to this pathetic creature. And why should he? Weak, weak, weak. He was so much better than Sidious ever was or ever would be. 

"Isn't this a surprise," Sidious said, setting the stylus down and leaning back in his chair. "That took less time that I thought it would." 

He stood quiet. 

"Why are you not kneeling?" Sidious demanded. 

He considered the question. Now was...perhaps not the time. Soon, though, soon. He knelt, bowing his head and smiling. "My apologies, Master. I am euphoric from the Dark Side. I am having trouble focusing," he said. 

Sidious seemed to accept the response and nodded, indicating he could rise. Fool. "The Jedi will be looking for you, my apprentice. It would be wise for you to not linger on Coruscant." 

Excellent. "Where do you wish to send me, my Master?" he asked. 

Sidious rose, coming around the desk to cup his face. He barely restrained the urge to snarl, to destroy the man touching him against his will. There was _one_ who was allowed to touch him and it was not this man. Sidious's eyes narrowed, as if sensing his thoughts. 

"Verath, why do you shield from me?" Sidious demanded. 

Because I can, he wanted to laugh. "You always taught us that shielding was important," he said. "If we did not, the Dark would eat us alive." 

Sidious smacked him hard enough his head snapped to the side and he felt his eyes blaze brighter. "You do not shield from me," he snapped. "Let me into your mind." 

He shoved his rage at Sidious, his fury, his still forming plans into a box and shoved it down, down, down under memories of flying free in the _Irredeemable_ , of Jango, of Rex, of Qui-Gon. Memories that Sidious would turn away from in disgust. He cracked his shields, letting in the filthy slime that was his "Master" and stood his ground. The shadows wrapped around him in sympathy, comforting him, wanting to be used. Forge us into a blade, they whispered, he has a fragile body and we would slide so easily through his flesh. 

Sidious rifled through his mind, touching everything inside him, lingering over the memory of Jango the longest before withdrawing from his mind. 

He snarled at Sidious and fixed the crack. "Satisfied, Master?" 

"Quite," Sidious said, going back to his desk. "I am sending you to Dooku. You will aid him with the Separatist armies." 

"I have no lightsabers," he said. "The Jedi took them." 

"So forge new ones," Sidious said, uninterested and picking up his stylus again. "You will leave tomorrow. Tonight you will serve me." 

He froze, mid-way to a bow. "Master?" 

Sidious looked at him with a cold smile. "I have missed your eager presence in my bed, Verath. You will serve me tonight, as you have in the past." 

Survive. 

He nodded, bowed, and left. 

Survive. He would survive. 

And he would gut Sidious like a puffer pig and bathe in his blood for ever daring to touch him again. 

= 

Maul bowed as he entered Sidious's study. "Master? You wished to see me?" 

"I have a task for you, Maul," Sidious said. He was staring out the windows, looking out over Coruscant. "To ensure Verath's continued good behavior, I want you to go to Concord Dawn." 

"Master?" 

"Take the Shadow Droids with you and subdue the populace," Sidious said. "There is a system of government there, the Journeymen Protectors they call themselves. Eliminate them. Find the Death Watch, befriend a man named Vizla, and be ready to move on Mandalore. Our Verath has some fondness for these people, despite their neutrality. We will use that against him." 

Maul knew better than to question his Master but he did not think that this was the way to ensure Verath would behave. He was sure it would have the opposite effect his Master desired. He had never seen his brother so...unhinged before. That was considering that in the past Verath sometimes would speak to shadows as if they answered back. 

"Yes, Master," he said finally. "I will do as you command." 

= 

"You sure about this?" Cody asked, following Rex. 

"No," Rex said, stopping outside the door he remembered and knocking. "But what choice do we have?" 

"Anything but this," Cody said. He looked back at Kix, Jesse, Boil, and Waxer. "At least we all know what we're getting into." 

"Do we, sir?" Jesse asked. He had his blaster at the ready and was looking around uneasily. "I don't want to take the shot, but I will if I have to." 

The door swished open before Rex could tell Jesse off. Boba stood there, a furious look on his face. 

"Hey, kid," Rex said. 

"You promised!" Boba shouted, startling them all. "You promised you'd look out for him!" 

"Yeah, I did," Rex said. "And I karked up good." 

Boba's face fell for a second. "Something really happened?" 

"Yeah," Cody said. "Yesterday morning. The Sith grabbed him from the Temple." 

Boba scowled. "Useless Jedi." 

"Hey! Show some respect!" Waxer said. 

"What now?" Boba asked. 

"Red wanted you safe," Rex said. "There's a high chance that the Sith Lord might use you against him." 

"So?" Boba said. 

"So," Cody said, grinning. "We want to take you with us. You'd be as safe on a cruiser with us as you'd be down here in the slums, probably safer. We'd make sure you don't miss any lessons." 

Boba looked at them, then the others guarding their backs. "You think it's that bad?" 

"Anyone who scared Red is not to be underestimated," Boil said. 

"He's our _ord'vod_ ," Kix said. "If he wants us to look after you, that's what we'll do." 

Rex nodded. "It's up to you if we do it on a cruiser or here, kid. It'll be harder to keep you safe here and it'll be brothers you don't know." 

"I don't know any of you," Boba said, crossing his arms. "I met you once, two nights ago, and then a couple times on Kamino." 

"This is dumb," Jesse said. "We should just pick him up and go. He's too small to fight back." 

"Shut up," Kix hissed, elbowing him in the side. "Try not to be a dick for five seconds." 

Boba took a step back. "I can too fight back!" 

Cody sighed. "Leave it to the 501st," he said. 

"Like you're any better," Rex said, grinning. 

"Eh, kriff you," Cody said. "Boba, we're not going to force you, but you need to know that it's not safe here." 

"Why do you care?" Boba demanded. "Any of you?" 

"You're family," Boil said. "Thought that was obvious." 

Boba blinked at them, stunned. "Oh." 

"You going to come with us?" Rex asked. 

Boba nodded, letting them into the apartment. "I guess I'll...pack?" 

"Clothes, weapons, things you don't want to leave behind," Cody advised as they followed him inside. 

"Your current lessons," Rex added. 

Boba nodded and went to pack. Kix smiled and went with him, talking to him in a low voice about what he might expect on a cruiser. Boba was listening, Rex saw, but not responding. 

"Captain!" Jesse called. "Problem!" 

Rex and Cody shot toward the door, drawing their weapons. 

A droid, sleek and deadly looking, was at Boba's door. "Boba Fett is to come with me immediately," it said. 

"I don't think so, clanker," Rex said, blocking the door. 

"Boba Fett is to come with me immediately," it repeated. 

"No," Cody said, pointing his gun at the droid. "Leave or you get slagged." 

The droid whirred, it's chest piece moving apart to open into spidery limbs that sparked menacingly. "Boba Fett is to come with me immediately," it said again. 

Rex, Cody, and Jesse started firing at the droid until it fell to pieces on the ground. Boil and Waxer were inside the apartment, guarding Boba, with Kix standing immediate bodyguard over the boy. 

"We need to go, now," Cody said. 

"I'll stay out here," Rex said. "You help the kid. You know how to pack a kit faster'n any brother I know." 

Cody drew back into the apartment, joining Boba, while Rex stood with Jesse. 

"Sith?" Jesse asked. 

"Yeah, but which one?" Rex asked. He squatted down, poking at the droid, looking for it's memory bank. Maybe if they pulled it and brought it back they could get some answers. "What the?!" 

Shadows, creeping out of cracks in the paving, wrapped around the droid and pulled it straight through the ground. 

"Did you just…? Did that just?" Jesse asked, staring at Rex. 

Rex looked at where the droid had been, touching the ground. That was magic, had to be. He'd never seen Red use shadows, though, but that didn't mean he couldn't. He glanced over at the door. And Red would want Boba with him, not whoever this Sith Lord was, not unless the Sith Lord knew everything about Red. 

He stood, holstering his weapon. They needed to get out of here, fast. 

= 

He sprawled across a high-backed chair, legs dangling over the arms as he toyed with the datapad. He was viewing the information from the droid's memory bank, smiling in satisfaction. 

He couldn't see Boba, but Rex and the others had done well. They were protecting their kin, their family, and someone they knew was important to him. He appreciated that and wanted to reward that initiative. 

He paused the holo on Rex as the man fired on the droid and smiled, wanting to reach out and touch him. He couldn't, not yet, but he would. He would see his _vod'ika_ soon, all of them, and then everything would be perfect. He would keep them close, protect them, release them from the bonds of slavery the Jedi had subjected them to. They would know freedom like he did and love him for it. 

"My Lord," a servant sound, bowing low. "Your ship is ready." 

He shut down the datapad and crushed it, not wanting the leave the slightest trace for Sidious. "Excellent," he murmured, letting the dust from the pad flow their this fingers to gather amongst the shadows. He stood and walked away from the cowering creature. 

It was time to see what Sidious had made of this "Count" Dooku. Maybe he would be of use to him. If not, then he was expendable. 

And he was still so very hungry. 

**Author's Note:**

> Mando'a used:
> 
> Ori'vod - honored big brother
> 
> Vod’ika - little brother
> 
> Di'kut - idiot 
> 
> Riduurok - marriage vows


End file.
